by Trevor Hunnicutt and Josh Smith
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea (Reuters) – Joe Biden kicked off his three-day visit to Korea on Friday, the first stop on his maiden trip to Asia as U.S. president, and held talks on security and economic cooperation with his South Korean counterpart.
The US President landed at US Osan Air Force Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, and immediately drove to the nearby factory of Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest semiconductor factory, where he met President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The global shortage of semiconductors has highlighted the need to secure supply chains so that America’s economy and national security aren’t dependent on countries “that don’t share our values,” Joe said. Biden during the visit.
“The essential element of how we will get there, in my opinion, is to work with close partners who share our values, such as the Republic of Korea.”
Joe Biden added that the future will be written in the Indo-Pacific region and now is the time for the United States and like-minded partners to invest in each other.
“With today’s visit, I hope Korea-U.S. relations will be revived as an economic and security alliance based on high-tech and supply chain cooperation,” he said. said Yoon Suk-yeol, in power since March.
Countering China’s presence in the region is a key theme of Joe Biden’s trip, but South Korea is expected to strike a cautious tone publicly on the matter, with Beijing being Seoul’s biggest trading partner.
South Korea is expected to be among the first members of the US president’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which will be announced during the trip to set labor, environmental and supply chain standards.
(With contributions from Hyonhee Shin, Jack Kim and Joori Roh in Seoul; French version Elena Vardon, editing by Kate Entringer)