Korea Passing

Neologism about South Korea

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Korea Passing (Korean: 코리아 패싱) is a neologism for the phenomenon of South Korea being alienated from the international community in the course of discussions on North Korea in 2017.[1]

## Origin and use

[edit]

In 2017 discussions, the presidential candidate, Yoo Seung-min, the Bareun Party candidate, used the phrase 'Korea passing' to argue that Korea is isolated in its diplomatic relations with global society.[2] The term derives from a 1998 incident when Bill Clinton visited only China without visiting Japan, which the Japanese media called a 'Japan passing', signifying "Japan's alienation from global society." In early 2017, 'Korea passing' emerged as a diplomatic buzzword in relation to the situation facing South Korea.[3][1]

In this context a 'passing' is a mistranslation into Japanese (and later Korean) which carries the same meaning as the English expression "to receive a cold-shoulder". However, major U.S. media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Fox News, have used the phrase 'Korea passing' in reference to the situation in South Korea.[4][5]

## Controversies and incidents

[edit]

### United States

[edit]

#### South Korea-U.S. Friction on North Korea and THAAD

[edit]

President Park Geun-hye was impeached in March 2017, and there was a high probability that Moon Jae-in, who was more friendly to North Korea, would win the upcoming election. The Trump administration was concerned that the incoming South Korean government would take a more passive stance towards relations with their Northern neighbor, and refrain from imposing strong sanctions on North Korea.[6][7]

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalated when North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test in September 2017 after firing several ballistic missiles in April 2017. In response, the Trump administration increased pressure on North Korea via additional sanctions. The Moon Jae-in administration, which took office at the same time, did not increase pressure on North Korea in tandem with the United States, which some saw as reducing the ability for a strong international response towards North Korea. [7][8]

Relatedly, the South Korean administration had formulated a policy to resume work on the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mount Kumgang, further increasing economic cooperation with North Korea, leading to a widening gap between the geopolitical response towards North Korea carried out by South Korea, and the United States.[8]

Donald Trump contacted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after North Korea's ballistic missile test, but did not contact South Korean President Moon Jae-in, furthering increased dialogue around a 'Korea passing'.[9][10] Relations were further strained as a result of President Moon Jae-in's questions about intelligence sharing around the deployment of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense ) assets in South Korean territory. The conflict over the THAAD deployment deepened after the U.S. Department of Defense declined to provide answers to the questions posed by South Korean leaders.[11]

#### U.S. reaction

[edit]

The New York Times published a piece claiming that South Korea will be the 'odd man out' due to differences in South Korea's policy on North Korea at the Korea-U.S. and Japan summit on September 21st, 2017. When US President Donald Trump visited South Korea on November 7th, 2017, and conducted a press conference with Moon Jae-in. Trump made a comment "[South] Korea is a very important country,", "there will be no exclusion [of South Korea]," and denied there was any 'Korea passing'. However, conservative opposition parties in South Korea insisted Trump's comments were typical diplomatic rhetoric, and the controversy about 'Korea passing' will continue because no formal agreements were reached.[12]

Following the US-South Korea summit, Trump praised Moon Jae-in's cooperation with the United States on addressing the North Korea situation. But, the Wall Street Journal pointed out Moon jae-in's policies on the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the THAAD deployment, saying that Moon Jae-in is an 'unreliable friend'. It was claimed that the United States still viewed the Moon Jae-in administration negatively.[13]

#### Controversy between South Korea and the U.S. during the North Korea-U.S. summit.

[edit]

On May 19, 2018, Donald Trump called Moon Jae-in immediately prior to Moon Jae-in's scheduled visit to the United States, and asked why there was a gap between Moon Jae-in's pledge and North Korea's denuclearization stance. Trump expressed his discomfort with this gap.[14]

During the May 22 summit between South Korea and the U.S., Trump's demeanour indicated dissatisfaction. Additionally, during the Summit, Trump scaled back on what had been a scheduled exclusive media interview. During a press conference for the summit, Trump was questioned a total of 28 questions, while Moon Jae-in was only given the opportunity to respond twice. Trump also cut off the Korean-to-English interpreter when the interpreter began to interpret Moon Jae-in's last reply, saying "I'm sure that's what I've heard before, so I don't have to listen to an interpreter.".[15]

On May 24, Trump announced the cancellation of the 2018 North Korea-U.S. Summit, which was scheduled for June, without notice to the Republic of Korea. Blue House belatedly received the news of the cancellation through Twitter.[16]

Related to this, controversy over 'Korea passing' resurfaced. Hong Jun-pyo, who was delegatee of Liberty Korea Party, made mention of 'Korea passing', and contended Moon Jae-in administration is excluded from North Korea-U.S. summit negotiation. Then, he added the success of negotiation is up to U.S. and China.[17][18]

On June 30, 2019, when 2019 Koreas–United States DMZ Summit was held, Trump didn't want Moon to join him according to John Bolton's book.[19]

### China

[edit]

China to abandon the debate of the Republic of Korea after the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration also flared up.[20]

#### Conflict between South Korea and China over the THAAD deployment

[edit]

President Moon Jae-in stated that the decision on additional deployment is necessary. In response, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi protested, saying, 'This decision is a setback for relations between the two countries.' In addition, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping said 'Moon Jae-in deceived us.' and sad as he complained.[20][21] On October 31, 2017, South Korea and China released a joint document containing 'results of consultation between the two countries on improving relations' to normalize their relations.[21] In the process, China touted that South Korea promised not to do three things: deploy additional THAAD, participate in the U.S. missile defense system, and cooperate with South Korea, the U.S., and Japan.[22][21] This led to a controversy over Korea's diplomatic humiliation. China did not express its regret over the THAAD retaliation or prevent a recurrence, and stressed that exchanges between South Korea and China can be normalized as soon as possible by keeping the "Not-doing 3 Things" promise, leaving the possibility that the issue could spark in the future.[23]

### North Korea

[edit]

North Korean policy changed after the launch of the government's Moon Jae-in. The South Korean government has continually proposed military talks, Red Cross talks and requests for the North to participate in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, but North Korea has been unresponsive for some time, causing controversy.[9]

But North Korea's participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics has been sputtering after its top leader Kim Jong-un signaled his intention to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in his New Year's message for 2018. Since then, there has been a flurry of inter-Korean relations, even after the successful inter-Korean summit in April 2018, but the dispute over the Korea Passing has flared up again due to conflicts over denuclearization and the North's unilateral disregard for the South Korean side.[24]

North Korea unilaterally called off scheduled high-level talks between South Korea and the United States, denouncing the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise "Max Thunder" in a strong tone and condemning the defection of Thae Yong-ho, a former British construction worker in North Korea's state, as "human scum."[25]

In June 2020, North Korea blew up an inter-Korean joint liaison office.[26]

### Japan

[edit]

In Japan, it has been thought by some public figures that "polite ignorance" is the best way to deal with Moon Jae-in's administration.[27] And in defense white paper, Defense of Japan 2019, Japan gave South Korea cold shoulder as security partner by lowering South Korea's standing.[28][29] Since 2018, the legal foundation of the friendly and cooperative relationship between two countries had overthrown. The legal foundation is "Agreement Between Japan and the Republic of Korea Concerning the Settlement of Problems in Regard to Property and Claims and Economic Cooperation". Under this severe situation surrounding the relationship caused by the South Korea side, the government of Japan is waiting for South Korea to resolve this internationally illegal situation.[30]

On the South Korea side, controversy erupted over Korea Passing when it was failed to arrange a summit meeting with Japan during the period of 2019 G20 Osaka summit.[31][32] A former Korean minister of foreign affairs, Gong Ro-myung, criticized the Korean government for acting like amateurs, leading Korea-Japan relations to deteriorate catastrophically and hit rock bottom politically and economically.[33]

### After the 2024 South Korean martial law by Yoon Suk-yeol

[edit]

After the self-coup by Yoon Suk-yeol, leaders from around the world are avoiding diplomatic activities with the South Korean government. Lloyd Austin, United States Secretary of Defense, decided not to visit South Korea.[34] The Prime Minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba, is said to have canceled his plan to visit South Korea and is coordinating a visit to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia.[35]

On 13 December 2024 (based on KST), U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will meet Kim Jong-un once the war in Ukraine and the war in Gaza are over, there are concerns that South Korea may be subjected to "Korea Passing" by Donald Trump unless Yoon Suk-yeol is impeached.[36]

After the second impeachment motion was passed by the National Assembly on 14 December 2024, the U.S. government said that "We highly value the resilience of South Korea's democracy and the rule of law", and expressed its readiness to work with the acting president.[37] However, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump declared that a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is possible before he took office, and did not mention South Korea at all, so there are also concerns that South Korea's diplomatic isolation and decline in international status will continue unless the Constitutional Court of Korea quickly decides to impeach Yoon Suk-yeol.[38][39][40]

## See also

[edit]

* Foreign relations of South Korea
* Globalization
* North Korea-United States summit (disambiguation)
* 2024 South Korean martial law

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Lyons, John (30 August 2017). "In the North Korea Standoff, South Koreans Say, 'What About Us?'". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
2. ^ "코리아 패싱 검색어 1위 왜?" ['Korea Passing' has been searched most. Why?]. 매일경제-Everyday Economics (in Korean). 26 April 2017. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
3. ^ Fifield, Anna; Taylor, Adam (2017-11-03). "As Japan buddies up to Trump, South Korea frets it's being disrespected". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
4. ^ "[뉴스와 콩글리시] '운전자론' 무색하게 한 '코리아 패싱'" [[News and Konglish] Korea passing deprived the'Driver theory']. www.dt.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-11-10.
5. ^ "논란 된 '코리아 패싱' 콩글리시?···정부 "미국도 안 쓰는 용어"" [Is 'Korean Passing' Konglish? Government says 'The term isn't spoken by English.']. Naver News (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-11-10.
6. ^ "트럼프의 대북 정책이 확정됐다" [Trump's North Korea policy has been cinfirmed]. HuffPost Korea [Huffingtonpost Korea] (in Korean). 2017-04-27. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
7. ^ a b "Exclusive: Trump administration weighing broad sanctions on North Korea - U.S. official". Reuters. 2017-03-21. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
8. ^ a b "[단독]"트럼프, 문재인 정부 대북지원에 불만… 한미FTA 폐기에 영향"" [[Exclusive] Trump complains that Moon Jae-in doesn't do proper action to North Korea]. The Dong-a Ilbo (in Korean). 2017-09-29. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
9. ^ a b "끝내 대답없는 북한… '코리아 패싱' 위기 앞에 선 문재인 정부" [North Korea doesn't answer... Moon Jae-in government's 'Korea Passing' crisis]. Hankook Ilbo (in Korean). 2017-08-01. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
10. ^ "트럼프·아베, 文에 '지금이 그럴 때냐' 몰아붙여" [Trumph and Abe...'This is not the right time to do...."]. Munhwa Ilbo. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
11. ^ "[단독] 미 국방부, 문 대통령의 사드 주장을 반박" [U.S. Department of Defense refuted Moon's opinion]. JoongAng Ilbo [Chung-ang Daily] (in Korean). 2017-06-23. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
12. ^ Sang-Hun, Choe (2017-09-20). "South Korea's Leader Will Be Odd Man Out in Meeting With Trump and Shinzo Abe". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
13. ^ The Editorial Board (7 November 2017). "South Korea's Bow to Beijing". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
14. ^ "문 대통령에 전화한 트럼프, 왜 당신과 북 얘기 다른가 물어" [Trump asked Moon why they has different stance about North Korea]. JoongAng Ilbo [Chung-ang Daily] (in Korean). 2018-05-21. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
15. ^ "Remarks by President Trump and President Moon of the Republic of Korea Before Bilateral Meeting". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2019-11-10 - via National Archives.
16. ^ "靑, 트럼프 미북정상회담 중단선언에 "상황 파악중"" [Blue house grasping of the situation about Trump's cessation daclarartion of U.S.-North Korea summit]. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 2018-05-24. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
17. ^ 이, 태경 (2018-05-28). "트럼프의 마음을 돌린 문재인과 김정은" [Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un moved Trump's mind]. Pressian (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-11-10.
18. ^ "'한반도 운전자론' 힘 받았다…靑, 남북미 연쇄회동 대비" ['Korean peninsula theory' received strength, Blue House prepare the summit]. SBS NEWS (in Korean). 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
19. ^ Sarah Kim (June 22, 2020). "Trump didn't want Moon in DMZ, writes Bolton". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
20. ^ a b "끝내 대답없는 북한… '코리아 패싱' 위기 앞에 선 문재인 정부" [There was no reply from North Korea... Moon Jae-in administration is in 'Korea passing' crisis]. Hankook Ilbo [Hangook Daily] (in Korean). 2017-08-01. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
21. ^ a b c "한국, 사드 추가배치 포기하고 중국과 교류 정상화" [Korea renounced on the additional THAAD deployment, noamlization of exchange with China]. Monthly Chosun (in Korean). 2017-11-01. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
22. ^ "3不은 對中 굴욕외교인가 체면 세워주기인가" [Is '3 ban' ploicy indignity or keeping China's face?]. Kukmin Ilbo (in Korean). 2017-11-03. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
23. ^ "한중 '해빙'…'3불 약속' 불씨 남겨" [South Korea and China overcame the chill through a '3 ban' policy]. Channel A (in Korean). 31 October 2017. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
24. ^ "문전박대 당한 南…'코리아패싱' 또다시 시작됐나" [Does 'Korea passing' started again?]. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
25. ^ 손, 병산 (16 May 2018). "고위급회담 취소…'맥스 선더'와 "인간쓰레기"" [The summit is canceled, "Max Thunder" and "Human Trash"]. MBC News (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-11-16.
26. ^ Choe Sang-Hun (June 16, 2020). "North Korea's Wrecking of Liaison Office a 'Death Knell' for Ties With the South". The New York Times. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
27. ^ Jiji Press (June 6, 2019). "Quote of the day: Polite ignorance could be the best way to deal with the administration of South Korean President Moon Jae-in". Japan Today. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
28. ^ "Defence of Japan 2019". MOD, Japan. 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
29. ^ Kyodo (August 10, 2019). "Japan to give South Korea cold shoulder as security partner in new defense white paper". The Japan Times. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
30. ^ "Failure of the Republic of Korea to comply with obligations regarding arbitration under the Agreement on the Settlement of Problems concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Co-operation between Japan and the Republic of Korea (Statement by Foreign Minister Taro Kono)" (Press release). MOFA, Japan. July 19, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
31. ^ "손학규 "국제사회에서 韓 제대로 역할하는지 의문"" [Sohn Hak-kyu "It is questionable whether Korea plays a proper role in the international community."]. Newsis (in Korean). June 19, 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
32. ^ "G20 한일정상회담 불발…靑 "日, 준비 안돼"" [G20 South Korea-Japan summit is canceled, Blue House "Japan is not ready yet"]. 연합뉴스TV [Yeon-hap News TV] (in Korean). June 25, 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
33. ^ "Korean gov't acted like amateurs, had it coming with Japan". Korea JoongAng Daily. August 15, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
34. ^ 강병철 (6 December 2024). "美국방장관, 일본 방문 발표…"방한은 추진하다 보류"(종합)". Yonhap (in Korean).
35. ^ "日이시바, '계엄사태' 한국 대신 인도네시아 방문 조율". Hankyung (in Korean). 7 December 2024.
36. ^ "트럼프, 김정은에 신호 보내는데‥"한국 혼란 장기화되면 최악"". MBC NEWS (in Korean). 13 December 2024.
37. ^ "美, 탄핵소추에 "韓민주적회복력 확인‥권한대행과 일할준비돼"". MBC NEWS (in Korean). 15 December 2024.
38. ^ "트럼프 "취임 전 이시바와 회동 가능"‥일본 "환영"". MBC NEWS (in Korean). 17 December 2024.
39. ^ "트럼프, 취임 전 일 총리 만나려는데…한국 언급 없어". Hankyoreh (in Korean). 17 December 2024.
40. ^ "멈춰 선 한국, 달리는 일본, '외교 정상화' 한시가 급하다 [사설]". Hankyoreh (in Korean). 17 December 2024.