Park Young-sun: "If South Korea Achieves No Results at the Summit, It Will Be in a Sandwich Position"

"US Has Exerted Silent Pressure on Forced Labor Issue"
Former Minister of SMEs and Startups, KBS Radio Interview

Former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun said, "If nothing is gained from the Korea-Japan and Korea-US summits, Korea will inevitably remain in a sandwich position."

On the 13th, Park appeared on KBS's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' and stated, "The forced labor compensation negotiations, the Korea-Japan summit, and the Korea-US summit are interconnected issues," adding, "President Yoon Seok-yeol carries a very heavy burden on his shoulders."

Park explained, "Regarding the forced labor issue, if the Yoon Seok-yeol administration first showed goodwill to Japan, now it must obtain something from Japan. The same applies to the United States."

Park Young-sun, Chair of the Digital and Innovation Great Transformation Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea's Presidential Campaign Committee, visited Sinyeong Market in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul on December 28, 2021, and held a meeting with small business owners. Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

She agreed with the analysis that there was silent pressure from the United States behind the recent Korea-Japan forced labor compensation negotiations to check China. Park said, "The United States has exerted silent pressure regarding the Korea-Japan forced labor issue," adding, "They pressured us by saying, 'Don't fight, get along well. We don't have the capacity to pay attention to you right now.'"

Regarding concerns about China's trade retaliation, she said, "South Korea is currently facing a severe economic crisis," expressing concern that "this trade deficit is the largest ever, and even during the IMF crisis, the trade deficit did not persist this long or at this scale."

Park explained, "China has announced plans to invest $500 billion to increase semiconductor chip production to 70% by 2025," adding, "South Korea's semiconductor exports to China are already declining and are unlikely to increase. Our trade deficit is bound to continue."

Regarding the government's future diplomatic direction, Park advised, "We must not reveal our true intentions." She said, "The United States must be curious about the state of Korea and how it will advance this issue for us to survive," adding, "If we reveal all our intentions to the US as past conservative administrations did and give everything away, we won't have many cards to gain."