Yoon, a conservative who took office in May, reportedly spoke with Pelosi on the phone but will not meet her in person during her visit to Seoul on Thursday, South Korean media reported. Yun had reportedly planned a summer vacation well before the US House speaker’s decision to visit the region, which included a controversial stop in Taiwan on Wednesday that prompted threats of retaliation from China. The South Korean leader is reportedly in Seoul. Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of Chinese territory, on Thursday began four days of “unprecedented” live-fire drills at six locations surrounding the island in a show of force designed to communicate its anger with Washington and Taipei. He also summoned the US ambassador to Beijing and banned thousands of food imports from Taiwan. Critics accused Yoon of avoiding Pelosi to avoid competing with China, South Korea’s biggest trading partner. South Korean broadcaster TBS quoted a presidential Blue House official as denying that China was a factor in Yun’s decision not to meet Pelosi, as his itinerary was finalized before her visit was announced. When Pelosi last visited South Korea in 2015, she met with then-President Park Geun-hye and then-Secretary of State Yun Byung-se. Kim Heung-kyu, director of the US-China Policy Institute at Ajou University, told the Korea Times. “Pelosi is the number three politician in the US and if this was in the past the president or the secretary of state would try to talk to her, but I think this time the administration seems to have decided not to politicize the issue too much and they are unfairly competing China”. Pelosi met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and is expected to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Friday. Pelosi said Wednesday that her visit to Taiwan made it “undoubtedly clear” that the US “will not abandon” its democratic ally. In Seoul, she was due to meet with her South Korean counterpart, National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, and members of the ruling and senior opposition. Reports said Pelosi and Kim will issue a joint statement and summarize their discussions on North Korea and regional security, but will not take questions from reporters. Pelosi also plans to visit the truce village of Panmunjom, located along the heavily armed border between South and North Korea. A possible meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin was ruled out after he left for Cambodia early Wednesday to attend an ASEAN meeting. In Tokyo, Pelosi and Kishida are expected to reiterate their commitment to US-Japan cooperation to ensure a “free and open Indo-Pacific region” amid growing Chinese military activity in the South and East China seas.
