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| 2026-01-24 04:32:18
Lee-pragmatism
Pragmatism drives Lee's diplomacy to navigate complex ties involving U.S., China, Japan: experts
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- U.S. experts on Friday underlined pragmatism as a key driver of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's diplomacy to navigate complex relations involving the United States, China and Japan, as he has sought to foster rapport with their leaders and deepen practical cooperation with them.
Pragmatism has been a central tenet of Lee's foreign policy, as he seeks to strengthen the decadeslong alliance with Washington and ensure stable ties with Beijing amid a deepening Sino-U.S. rivalry, while pursuing enhanced cooperation with Tokyo despite lingering historical grievances.
During a podcast hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), experts highlighted that Lee's pragmatic approach was at work during his visits to Beijing and Tokyo this month for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
"I think President Lee's proven to be the ultimate pragmatist," Randall Schriver, former assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said. "It's hard to really define a lean one way or the other as he's making these visits."
His trip to Beijing was carefully watched in Washington amid lingering speculation that the liberal government in Seoul could move closer to Beijing at a time of complex geopolitics. His visit to Tokyo also drew keen attention as it came amid deepening tensions between Beijing and Tokyo over Takaichi's remarks on Taiwan.
Schriver positively assessed the current state of relations between the Trump and Lee administrations, noting earlier doubts over whether the conservative U.S. government and the liberal South Korean government could get along.
"At the beginning of the Trump administration and when President Lee came in, there were many observers who said, 'We've seen this formula before, and this could be a lot of trouble. And it seems that they are defying gravity," he said.
"We have a progressive government in Seoul and a conservative Republican government in Washington, and they are getting along just fine. They are doing quite well."
Victor Cha, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea chair at CSIS, said that in conducting his diplomacy with the U.S., Lee is not operating "according to script," but rather working in line with his pragmatic approach.
"I think many of us in Washington, D.C. thought this might be a replay of Roh Moo-hyun and George W. Bush, or even Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump One," he said, referring to former liberal Korean presidents and former conservative U.S. presidents.
"But he's not operating (according to) a script. He's actually been very pragmatic in terms of foreign policy."
Commenting on Lee's meeting with Xi, Cha highlighted that if Korea's relations with the U.S. and Japan are strong, it is on a "much stronger" footing with China.
"China does not treat him like a small province if he's got good relations (with the U.S. and Japan)," Cha said.
"He's had five meetings in total with the U.S. president and the Japanese prime minister before he went to Beijing. So, that's a pretty strong footing."
Schriver said that U.S. President Donald Trump "got off to a good start" with both South Korea and Japan, which put the Asian allies in a better position to deal with Beijing.
But he cautioned that China is looking for opportunities to "drive wedges" between the U.S. and its Asian allies, though it seeks stability "on its periphery."
Cha also saw pragmatism at work in Lee's pursuit of a more realistic phased approach to address North Korea's nuclear challenge. Lee seeks a three-phase plan that aims to halt the North's nuclear weapons program first, then reduce it and work toward the North's denuclearization.
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