Blinken to visit Korea on Sunday for third Summit for Democracy

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit South Korea this Sunday for the third Summit for Democracy to be held in Seoul starting Monday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he departs a plane at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on Nov. 18, 2023. [YONHAP]

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit South Korea this Sunday for the third Summit for Democracy to be held in Seoul starting Monday.

During the Summit for Democracy, a U.S.-led multilateral gathering to boost solidarity and shared values among democratic countries, Blinken will participate in high-level meetings and meet separately with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.

Launched in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic by U.S. President Joe Biden, the first Summit for Democracy was held virtually and hosted by the United States. The second event was also held online and hosted jointly by the governments of South Korea, the United States, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Zambia.

The third Summit for Democracy, to be held in Seoul, is the first time the event will be hosted offline and solely by a country other than the United States.

On Monday, high-level meetings and expert roundtable events are scheduled, while topic discussions and workshops led by domestic and foreign civic groups will be held on Tuesday. The plenary session of the summit, in which leaders of each country will participate, will be held via video conference on Wednesday evening.

According to White House officials, Washington will also convene a high-level meeting during the summit on the misuse of commercial spyware.

The summit theme for this year’s event hosted by South Korea will be “Democracy for Future Generations.”

Blinken’s visit for the Summit for Democracy will be his first visit to South Korea since November last year.

The Biden administration has worked to unite democracies aligned with the United States, in contrast to the global trend toward authoritarianism of autocracies like Russia and China.

Kelly Razzouk, U.S. National Security Council (NSC) senior director for democracy and human rights, speaks during a press briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Washington on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Ahead of the Summit for Democracy, Kelly Razzouk, U.S. National Security Council (NSC) senior director for democracy and human rights, highlighted the “real value in the symbolic nature” of Korea hosting the event and called the country a democracy “champion” on Wednesday.

“As President Biden said when we convened the first summit in 2021, democracy needs champions globally,” Razzouk said at a briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Washington. “So we are so thrilled that South Korea has stepped up as one of those champions to host the third Summit for Democracy.”

When asked whether North Korean human rights would be discussed at the summit or on the sidelines of the event, Razzouk skirted the question, saying that the U.S. does not view the event as a “shaming exercise.”

“Obviously, the human rights situation in North Korea is something that we've taken very seriously, and we've spoken out against that many times, but for the summit itself, we haven't viewed the summit as a shaming exercise," she said. "What we have viewed it as is a place to talk about our affirmative vision for democracy, and to bring together countries from around the world to talk about and to share best practices about democracy promotion and about human rights issues around the world."

Razzouk stressed that the summit comes at a critical moment as national elections are expected in 40 countries around the world this year, including in the U.S. for the presidential election in November.

“We are at an inflection point,” said Razzouk. “Globally, 2024 could be one of the most consequential election years in history.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]