http://www.goodmorningcc.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=273957 

〈윤석열 대통령이 미국 낸시 펠로시 하원의장을 전화통화로 대신하고 직접 만남을 거부한 것을 두고, 외신들은 일제히 “한국 대통령이 펠로시 의장을 뭉갰다”고 거칠게 비판하고 나섰다. 사진=파이낸셜타임즈(FT)/굿모닝충청 정문영 기자〉

[굿모닝충청=서울 정문영 기자]  윤석열 대통령이 미국 낸시 펠로시 하원의장을 전화통화로 대신하고 직접 만남을 거부한 것을 두고, 외신들은 일제히 “한국 대통령이 펠로시 의장을 뭉갰다”고 거칠게 비판하고 나섰다.

워싱턴포스트(WP)는 4일(현지시각) “한국 대통령이 자택 휴가를 이유로 낸시 펠로시 미팅을 건너뛰었다(South Korea’s president skips Nancy Pelosi meeting due to staycation)”고 했고, 파이낸셜타임즈(FT)는 “한국 대통령이 중국과의 긴장을 이유로 펠로시를 뭉갰다(South Korean president snubs Nancy Pelosi as China tensions rise)”고 헤드라인을 잡았다.

블룸버그 역시 “한국의 지도자가 휴가 중 펠로시 의장을 무시, 우려를 가중시키고 있다(South Korea Leader Snubs Pelosi Over Holiday, Adding to His Woes)”고 제목을 달았다.

WP는 이날 “펠로시 의장이 전날 저녁 늦게 한국에 도착하기 전에 윤 대통령은 서울에서 열린 연극 공연에 참석하고 배우들과 만찬과 술을 마시며 사교적인 시간을 가졌다”며 “중국을 달래기 위해 펠로시 의장과의 회담을 기피한다는 비난여론을 대수롭지 않게 여겼다”고 꼬집었다.

이어 “국제 외교무대에서 윤 대통령의 극심한 존재감 부재로 가뜩이나 비판을 사고 있다”며 “이런 가운데 보수 대통령이 중국의 보복을 우려, 펠로시 의장을 의도적으로 기피함으로써 호된 비난을 자초했다”고 덧붙였다. 

FT는 “윤 대통령이 방한한 펠로시 의장의 면담을 거부해 국내적으로 비판에 직면하고 있다”며 “그가 중국에 호의를 보이려고 한 것이지만, 국내·외적으로도 잘못된 인상을 주고 있다”고 밝혔다.

특히 “펠로시 의장은 미국에서 영향력이 높은 중요한 인물”이라며 “대만과 일본의 정상들이 모두 만나는데, 유일하게 윤 대통령이 만나지 않은 것은 결코 좋은 선택이 아니다”라고 비판했다.

블룸버그는 “집권 3개월 만에 지지율이 역대급으로 추락하고 있는 윤 대통령으로서는 펠로시 의장을 직접 만날 필요가 없다고 생각하고, 대신 전화통화를 선택했다”며 “휴가를 방해 받고 싶지 않아 만남이 이뤄지지 않았고, 윤 대통령은 결국 이번 아시아 순방에서 펠로시 의장을 만나지 않은 유일한 지도자가 될 것”이라고 들추었다.

매체는 “윤 대통령은 중국을 상대로 강경노선을 취하겠다고 공약한 이후 최근 들어 지지율이 급격하게 추락했다”며 “하지만 미국에서 가장 영향력 있는 정치인과의 만남을 미룬 것은 집권 이후 윤석열 정부에게는 자해행위가 될 위험이 크다”고 우려했다

또 김두연 미국 신안보센터(CNAS) 선임연구위원의 발언을 인용, “윤 대통령에 대한 국내 여론이 굉장히 나쁘다”며 “세계적인 중추국가가 되기 위해 미국과 대화를 이어 나가거나, 중국에 맞서 국익을 보호할 수 있는 윤 대통령의 능력에 심각한 의문이 제기될 수 있다”는 시각을 보였다.

〈워싱턴포스트(WP)는 4일(현지시각) “한국 대통령이 자택 휴가를 이유로 낸시 펠로시 미팅을 건너뛰었다(South Korea’s president skips Nancy Pelosi meeting due to staycation)”고 했고, 블룸버그 역시 “한국의 지도자가 휴가 중 펠로시 의장을 무시, 우려를 가중시키고 있다(South Korea Leader Snubs Pelosi Over Holiday, Adding to His Woes)”고 헤드라인을 잡았다./굿모닝충청 정문영 기자〉

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블룸버그: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-04/south-korea-leader-snubs-pelosi-due-to-vacation-adding-to-woes 

South Korea Leader Snubs Pelosi Over Holiday, Adding to His Woes

Yoon didn’t want to interrupt his vacation, his office says

He is only leader not to meet visiting Pelosi during trip

After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi captivated the world’s attention with a groundbreaking trip to Taiwan, she received far less fanfare on her next stop. 

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has seen his approval rating drop to near historic depths just three months after taking office, didn’t see it necessary to greet Pelosi in person -- opting for a phone call instead.

“President Yoon’s vacation schedule and Speaker Pelosi’s visit to the Republic of Korea overlapped, and we did not rearrange our schedule,” his office said in a statement. 

Yoon was the only leader not to meet Pelosi in person during her high-stakes Asia trip, which included becoming the highest-level US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, as well as the first sitting House speaker to visit South Korea in about 20 years.

Although Yoon has pledged to rebuild security ties with the country’s long-standing American ally and take a tough line with China, his popularity has swiftly fallen in recent weeks over numerous missteps. Putting off a meeting with one of the most powerful US politicians risks adding to the self-inflicted damage that has dogged his government since it took power in May.

“The optics look very bad,” said Duyeon Kim, an adjunct senior fellow in Seoul at the Center for a New American Security. “It could raise serious questions in Washington about Yoon’s ability to walk the talk about being a self-proclaimed globally pivotal state, a strong team player on Team Democracy, and being able to stand up to China to protect its own national interest.” 

Every other South Korean president has met Pelosi since she first became speaker in 2007, and President Roh Moo-hyun met her in 2006 during a visit to Washington. She is the first sitting House speaker to arrive in South Korea since Dennis Hastert in 2002. Pelosi met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday in Tokyo in the final leg on her trip. 

During her brief stop in South Korea, Pelosi and her congressional delegation met lawmakers at parliament in Seoul, where they agreed to work to end North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. The US and South Korea have warned that Kim Jong Un’s regime may soon conduct its first nuclear test since 2017, as he modernizes an arsenal of weapons designed to deliver atomic warheads to the US mainland and its allies in Asia.

Pelosi also went to the Panmunjom truce village in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Koreas. The place where soldiers from the two sides stare down each other is a symbol of military tensions that have simmered since the US came to South Korea’s defense in 1950 after North Korea invaded and started the Korean War. 

Yoon Young-chan, a lawmaker for the opposition Democratic Party who served as a press secretary to Yoon’s predecessor, former President Moon Jae-in, said the decision not to meet the US House speaker “may send a wrong message to our ally.”

“It would be hard to convince both Washington and our people that he is simply not seeing Pelosi as it overlapped with his holiday schedule,” Yoon Young-chan added. The president’s office said he was watching a play the night Pelosi arrived.

Since winning a presidential election in March decided by the closest margin in the country’s history, Yoon has seen his support erode. Several major decisions have proved unpopular and touched off waves of criticism, including relocating the presidential office, announcing plans to shut the Gender Equality Ministry, giving his government more power over police and lowering the age children begin school by a year.

Yoon’s support rate hit 28.9% in a survey taken less than a week ago by the Korea Society Opinion Institute, with the approval numbers of his administration ranking among the lowest for any president since South Korea became a full democracy in 1987. Although there is ample time to reverse course in his single, five-year term that started in May, the former prosecutor’s early stumbles have raised questions about whether he can make the transition to running a government. 

Yoon has won praise from the Biden administration for bringing changes to South Korea’s security posture. That has helped the US as it looks to build alliances among partners for a united front against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, push back against an assertive China and try to end North Korea’s atomic ambitions.

His government has also raised South Korea’s stature in international groupings such as NATO, and brought back joint military exercises with the US that had been scaled down or halted under former President Donald Trump to facilitate his nuclear negotiations with North Korea.

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