Kim Geun-sik: "Urgent Need to Secure Vaccines... Moon Jae-in Should Temporarily Release Lee Jae-yong to Meet Biden"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Professor Kim Geunsik of Gyeongnam National University, chairman of the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong district committee in Seoul, proposed to the government on the 19th a plan to utilize the realities of the Korea-US alliance, US-China competition, and semiconductor hegemony competition to secure COVID-19 vaccines.

In a post on his Facebook on the same day, Professor Kim stated, "We must now desperately cling to securing vaccines with an extraordinary determination," and added, "I propose one idea."

Professor Kim emphasized, "One option is for President Moon Jae-in to attend the Korea-US summit scheduled for the end of May accompanied by Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong," and stressed the urgent need to temporarily release Vice Chairman Lee, who is currently imprisoned.

He said, "At a recent semiconductor video conference, President Joe Biden, holding a wafer, emphasized semiconductor hegemony. President Moon, together with Vice Chairman Lee, should officially promise that Samsung Electronics will reduce investment and sales in China and immediately build and invest in semiconductor fabrication plants in the US, firmly siding with the US in the US-China semiconductor competition and declaring that Korea will proudly participate in the US-led strategy against China." He added, "In return, I propose a special diplomatic and security-level vaccine procurement plan to secure early special supply of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines from Biden."

He further added, "Beyond the urgency of securing vaccines, it is essential from the perspective of the 21st-century Republic of Korea's diplomatic and security strategy to stop ambiguous balancing in the ongoing US-China hegemony competition and firmly choose the Korea-US alliance."

Kim Geun-sik, Professor at Gyeongnam University and Chairman of the People Power Party's Songpa-byeong District Committee in Seoul [Image source=Yonhap News]

Professor Kim also emphasized, "The task of resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and achieving peaceful unification can no longer realistically be achieved through China but must be faced through US-led changes in China and the resulting regime transition in North Korea," adding, "It is time to catch two rabbits: urgent vaccine procurement and a vital Korea-US alliance."

U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized the importance of the semiconductor industry while holding a semiconductor wafer on the 12th. / Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, on the 12th, the White House held a 'CEO Summit on Semiconductor Supply Chain Recovery' to address the semiconductor shortage crisis. Samsung Electronics attended this meeting as a key global foundry (contract manufacturing) company representing the domestic semiconductor industry.

President Biden strongly expressed his stance to curb Chinese semiconductors and urged participants to make aggressive investments in the semiconductor and battery sectors. Following this, US semiconductor companies such as Intel and Taiwan's TSMC, the number one foundry company, announced plans for semiconductor investments in the US one after another, and it was analyzed that Samsung Electronics, the only domestic company attending, now faces a situation where it must respond accordingly.