I noticed that South Korea recently held high-level discussions separately with both U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng around the same period.
It made me wonder whether Korea’s strategic role as an economic and diplomatic balancing point in East Asia is becoming more important, especially regarding semiconductors, trade, and regional stability.
I’m curious how others interpret Korea’s evolving position between the U.S. and China.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2026/05/13/korea-Scott-Bessent-Lee-Jae-myung-He-Lifeng-meeting-Seoul-Beijing/4131778660415/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Posted by Scared-Discussion443
3 Comments
Geopolitically in the current world order is there a more important middle power? Basically within 500 miles of 3 of the United States’ key adversaries, all nuclear powers. Also close to Japan that’s a massive economic and military power and a latent nuclear armed nation.
Also happens to be a military and economic power in its own right.
I wonder how many Americans realize how critically important South Korea is to the United States right now.
For example, just look at this NBC report.
[https://www.nbcnews.com/video/u-s-looks-overseas-for-resources-as-munition-supply-dwindles-in-iran-wa-263276613516](https://www.nbcnews.com/video/u-s-looks-overseas-for-resources-as-munition-supply-dwindles-in-iran-wa-263276613516)
I mean, how many more ways does South Korea have to help the US to defend its world hegemony? If it’s not batteries, ships/shipbuilding, ammunition, military equipment, nuclear plants, chips, supply chain redundancy, and now even critical minerals. South Korea is a US job-creating machine. It’s criminal the way the US has treated South Korea. South Korea needs to stop relying solely on the unreliable US and start emphasizing cooperation with Canada, the EU, and Japan – they are the real democratic countries that are reliable and share the same values with Korea.
Regarding the Tungsten mine, South Korea was a large tungsten exporter before the 1997 IMF bailout. The Koreans just could not compete with the cheap Chinese Tungsten. They closed the mines. But that tungsten mine was bought out by a Canadian company (Almonty) with pennies to the dollar. Recently, the Canadian company became American after it moved its operations to the US.
I hope so