Newly elected President of South Korea Lee Jae Myung will skip this year’s summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) starting on Tuesday, June 24. Lee cited the growing unrest in West Asia following the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday as one of the reasons for the decision.
The US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday in an attempt to destroy its nuclear program. The bombings were part of the Israeli aggression on Iran which began on June 13 and killed hundreds of Iranians including scientists and some of its top military leadership.
Iran responded to the US aggression on Monday night by attacking its military base in Qatar. US President Donald Trump subsequently announced a ceasefire on Monday between Israel and Iran, however, Israel launched its most extensive attack on Tehran after the ceasefire announcement.
“After comprehensively reviewing various domestic matters and the volatile situation in the Middle East, the president decided not to attend the summit,” Kang Yu-Jung, the presidential spokesperson, told the press on Sunday, the Korea Times reported.
Lee’s decision to not participate in the summit will make it the first time since 2022 that South Korea is not represented at the annual NATO summit by its president. The move could indicate a major policy shift.
Lee’s predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) attended all three NATO summits held during his presidency.
Yoon was considered a strong proponent of the US Cold War narrative against China and was accused of seeking war with North Korea. Under his leadership, South Korea became a central part of US geopolitics in the region focused on containing China.
Yoon was impeached and removed from his post earlier this year following his attempt to impose martial law in December. In a fresh presidential election held in early June, Lee defeated Kim Moon-soo from the conservative PPP.
No cold war with China
Lee’s decision to not participate in the summit was announced despite growing pressure from the main conservative opposition. PPP had argued that it was crucial to show South Korea’s commitment to the liberal west, South China Morning Post reported.
However, the decision was a relief for the civil society and peace groups in the country and around the world who had been campaigning against Lee’s possible participation. The progressive organizations argued that South Korea’s participation would only strengthen the anti-China cold war by the US Trump administration.
Anti-war group No Cold War had demanded last week that President Lee skip the summit saying “attending NATO exacerbates the crisis facing South Korea, the region, and the world.”
No Cold War had demanded that “Lee’s pragmatic foreign policy must disengage from the US-led NATO expansion into Asia that enables the US to escalate military tensions and destabilize the Indo-Pacific.”
South Korea is not a formal member of NATO. However, it is one of the closest allies of the US in the region. The US has 62 military bases in the country and 28,500 troops stationed there and dominates South Korea’s foreign and defense policies.
In the last few years, South Korea has become pivotal to the US plan to create an “Asian NATO” in the region. The US has allegedly pushed for an extension of NATO in the region with the involvement of countries such as Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
South Korea has participated in numerous joint military exercises under the leadership of the US in the last few years. The joint military exercises involved Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and others. All these military exercises have been focused on alleged threats from China and North Korea.
