by Trevor Hunnicutt and Josh Smith
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, May 20 (Reuters) – Joe Biden began his three-day visit to Korea on Friday, the first stop on his maiden trip to Asia as U.S. president, and held security talks and economic cooperation with its South Korean counterpart.
The US President landed at US Air Force Base Osan Pyeongtaek, south of Soul, 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 semiconductor shortage has highlighted the need to secure supply chains so that America’s economy and national security are not dependent on countries “that don’t share our values,” Joe said. Biden during the visit.
“The key to how we get there, in my view, is to work with close partners who share our values, like the Republic of Korea.”
Joe Biden added that the future will be written in the Indo-Pacific region and that now is the time for the United States and like-minded partners to invest in each other.
“With today’s visit, I hope Korea-US relations will be reborn 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 subject, with Beijing being Soul’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 standards on labour, environment and supply chains. (With contributions from Hyonhee Shin, Jack Kim and Joori Roh Soul; French version Elena Vardon, spoken by Kate Entringer)