Tariff ruling delays South Korea-US security talks

Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found reciprocal tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump unlawful, a planned visit to South Korea by a U.S. negotiating team responsible for follow-up measures on South Korea-U.S. security agreements, including nuclear-powered submarine cooperation, has reportedly been postponed.

A senior South Korean government official said Monday that the U.S. security delegation’s visit is likely to be delayed. “There appears to be a current within the United States to hold off on security consultations until the situation stemming from the tariff ruling is resolved,” the official said. Another government source added that Washington has not yet finalized the delegation’s composition or confirmed a schedule, suggesting a wait-and-see approach.

The U.S. delegation, to be led by Ivan Kanapathy, senior director for East Asia at the White House National Security Council, was expected to include officials from the State Department, the Defense Department and the Energy Department, along with representatives from other agencies involved in cooperation on nuclear-powered submarines, uranium enrichment and reprocessing, and shipbuilding. Its planned visit to Seoul has been postponed.

Previously, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. side had expressed its intention to arrange the delegation’s visit as early as February.

A proposed “2+2” South Korea-U.S. foreign and defense ministers’ meeting aimed at facilitating high-level bilateral coordination has also reportedly fallen through due to circumstances on the U.S. side. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back had sought to hold the 2+2 talks in Washington before departing for Canada on Feb. 25 for a South Korea-Canada 2+2 foreign and defense ministers’ meeting, but scheduling issues on the U.S. side prevented the meeting from taking place.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-du, head of policy planning and intelligence at the Foreign Ministry, is scheduled to visit Washington from Feb. 24 to 27 to exchange views on a South Korea-U.S. joint fact sheet and issues related to the Korean Peninsula with Allison Hooker, U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, and other officials.

Kyu-Jin Shin newjin@donga.com