Professor Choi Jong-geon of Yonsei University, who served as the First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Moon Jae-in administration, expressed regret over the ruling party's description of President Yoon Suk-yeol's series of bilateral meetings with leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries at the recent summit as a "psychological G8," saying, "Is it really necessary to use such an excessive term as psychological G8?"
On the 22nd, Professor Choi said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "You mention psychological G8, but well, if we say that ourselves, I don't know how people from other countries would feel about it."
He compared the ruling party's past statement about the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) being "effectively nuclear sharing" with the recent "psychological G8" remark, explaining, "The countries invited to the G7 this time are actually 8 countries plus 1, including African and Pacific island coastal countries. Moreover, the President of Ukraine was also present." This means that various countries besides South Korea participated and attracted attention.
He emphasized that being included in the G8 is not necessarily beneficial. Professor Choi said, "G8, G9, G10 sound good, but what benefits do we get from being part of them?" He added, "It is undoubtedly about setting the main discourse, narrative, and direction of international politics, but if the G7 were truly to consist only of the world's top strongest countries as we think, then China would be excluded. And Russia is also not included. There is a gap between the G7 as we think of it and the reality of the G7."
Professor Choi said, "When I was invited as a guest country to the G7 in 2021, the feeling within our government was that after returning, I really thought we needed to be very alert at the G7 venue," adding, "If we get swept up in the atmosphere, we might be carried away in a direction we do not want or desire."
Regarding the new Cold War structure between the United States and China, he said, "There is definitely a new Cold War structure. From our standpoint, no matter how much other countries say it is a new Cold War, we have geopolitical reasons to take a step back and observe," adding, "Most of international politics now seems like a black hole because of Ukraine, but the new Cold War is coming first, so the psychology of 'we must only side with the U.S.' is like waving the flag at the very front."
On the issue of 'Ukraine reconstruction,' he said, "First, we need to look at the scale, but I hope we can do what we can. And I hope it can be done on a grant basis," adding, "Rather than supporting this or that weapon, there is an official support system called ODA (Official Development Assistance), so we will have to consider various factors then. Since we are close to Ukraine, I hope that (grant support) can be provided."
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