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| In this file photo, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony J Blinken gives a joint press conference following a meeting with Foreign Affairs member of the anti-Islamic State coalition on June 2, 2015, in Paris. AFP |
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's pick for secretary of state will likely seek to improve South Korea's relations with Japan as he pushes for multilateral efforts to denuclearize North Korea, U.S. experts said Monday.
The U.S. president-elect selected Antony Blinken, former deputy secretary of state, to be the first Cabinet member of the Biden administration, set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
While experts here noted the 58-year-old nominee will be open to dialogue with North Korea, he will likely prefer a more silenced and disciplined approach than President Donald Trump in dealing with U.S. allies and adversaries.
"Blinken will place his emphasis on revitalizing U.S. alliances and he won't kowtow to Kim Jong-un as Trump did ― or put the U.S. and North Korea on the brink of war as Trump also did in 2017," said Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst who currently works for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Trump has held three meetings with North Korea's Kim, but U.S.-North Korea denuclearization talks have stalled since the second Trump-Kim summit, held in Hanoi in February 2019, ended without a deal.
Biden remains critical of the Trump-Kim meetings, insisting they have only given the North Korean dictator what he had long desired ― global recognition as the leader of a nuclear-armed state.
The president-elect says he too may be willing to meet with Kim, but only if it will lead to a reduction of the communist state's nuclear arsenal.
Blinken, if confirmed, will reaffirm the Biden administration's willingness to talk, noted the former CIA official.
"I expect he will show an openness for talks with the North, but (he) will expect real deliverables, not just photo ops," said Terry.
Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific Security chair at the Hudson Institute, said North Korea will be placed high on the agenda of the incoming U.S. administration, but its approach to the communist state will be different from that of the Trump administration.
"North Korea will be an important issue, and I expect the Biden national security team, including Tony Blinken, to pursue a deliberate, detailed, diplomatic process to shore up international support from China and others," he said.
It may also continue to directly engage Kim, but with an "united front" with South Korea, noted Cronin.
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