South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, used a largely successful summit with U.S. President Joe Biden over the weekend to lay the foundation for his goal of enabling South Korea to play a more active role around the world.
Inaugurated on May 10, Yoon has said his main foreign policy goal will be to make South Korea a "global pivotal state” with a focus on promoting freedom, peace and prosperity based on its liberal democratic values and cooperation.
That closely mirrors Biden's call for "like-minded" democracies with shared values to work together, allowing the pair to commit to a strikingly long list of areas for cooperation, setting the bar high on promises but also underscoring how Yoon sees closer U.S. ties as his path toward global engagement.