Pres. Moon’s U.S. visit carries message of ‘racial opposition’

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s visit to the U.S., which kicks off on Thursday (local time) in Washington, D.C., is said to include messages to oppose against racial discrimination such as hate crime against Asians, a serious issue escalating in the nation.

According to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, President Moon is scheduled to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Cardinal Wilton Gregory and other leading figures in addition to U.S. President Joe Biden. Vice President Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, has become the first woman to earn the title of vice president. Ms. Pelosi has been leading the passage of the anti-Asian hate crime bill, which was passed by the House with a landslide vote on Tuesday (local time).

President Moon will also visit Georgia, Atlanta, in which SK Innovation’s battery plant is located in, but also the place where eight Asian women, four of which were Korean, had been killed in a shooting accident in March. “Back then, the Korean Ambassador to the U.S. had not attended the funeral of the Korean victims, which sparked controversy in the local Korean community,” said a source at the diplomatic community. “Thus it is expected that the President will offer messages of consolation when he visits the plant.”


Hyung-Jun Hwang constant25@donga.com