Blinken, at Seoul Near the End of His Asian Swing, Agrees To Disagree With Korea on the Rights and Wrongs of War in Gaza

SEOUL — Secretary Blinken and his opposite number in South Korea came close to appearing to agree on the rights and wrongs of the war in Gaza. After dancing around the topic, however, it was clear they had agreed to disagree — albeit politely.Mr. Blinken, standing beside Korea’s foreign minister, Park Jin, got around lastly to the middle east after affirming their “unified approach in the face of the DPRK” — Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea.That was the easy part. Missing was a nod toward a common approach on the Middle East east, where Mr. Blinken spent most of the past week before sitting down with the foreign ministers of the G7 countries at Tokyo before flying on to Seoul.The most upbeat remark the secretary could offer Seoul on the subject was that America “appreciates Korea’s leadership in condemning terrorist attacks” against Israel.Mr. Park had no problem decrying the Hamas invasion of southern Israel on October 7. “We strongly protest the indiscriminate attack on Israel,” he said, “Attacks against civilians” were “an act of terrorism,” and “hostages should be released,” he went on, without hinting whether that should be a condition for a ceasefire.In a bow to demands for a hiatus in the fighting, Mr. Park said “we strongly support a ceasefire” but did not specify which side to blame — Hamas for slaughtering 1,400 civilians and kidnapping 240 or the Israeli for its counterattack. Mr. Blinken’s diplomatic minuet here was a logical follow-up to an exercise in double talk in the meeting at Tokyo the day before with foreign ministers of the G7 countries, including, besides Japan, America’s closest NATO allies, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy.In their final statement, the G7 ministers, in a show of even-handedness, spoke of the need “to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds” for “more atrocities” while denouncing “extremist violence” by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. “Humanitarian pauses,” they agreed, might help.Mr. Blinken’s performances in Tokyo and then Seoul typified a globe-girdling odyssey in which he’s sought to balance the interests of Israel with the need for accommodation with nations that are not on board with Mr. Netanyahu’s vow to defeat Hamas.Everywhere he’s gone, beginning with Tel Aviv, then to Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, and on to Amman, the capital of Jordan, Mr. Blinken has tailored his remarks to quite varying audiences.At Tel Aviv, meeting Mr. Netanyahu and the president, Isaac Herzog, he promoted the need to “protect Palestinian civilians” who should not have to “suffer” from Hamas brutality — a subtle warning to Mr. Netanyahu of the limits of American generosity.At the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority, Ramallah, he gave the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, the ritual American assurance of supporting “the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian state,” including Gaza, taken over by Hamas.At Amman, Mr. Blinken faced a very different audience — the secretary- general of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. All of them, of course, called for a ceasefire in Gaza, to which he raised the issue of Hamas licking its wounds and fighting with renewed strength.Mr. Blinken was on surer ground here in Korea where Mr. Park warned that North Korea’s nukes were “the biggest security threat” and Korea and Japan should “work together.” Mr. Blinken warned that Russia was providing technology for North Korea’s nukes and missiles in exchange for North Korean weaponry.He gets back to tough negotiating when he meets India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, at New Delhi — the last stop on his trip. India is likely to remain “neutral,” valuing its ties to Moscow, a major source of arms, as well as Washington, as seen in its membership of “the Quad,” an informal grouping that includes Japan and Australia.

Blinken, at Seoul Near the End of His Asian Swing, Agrees To Disagree With Korea on the Rights and Wrongs of War in Gaza

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