[Politics & Diplomacy] What to expect from Seoul's top diplomat's trip to Washington

조현-루비오 회담, 호르무즈 파병•대미투자•핵잠수함 논의

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is set to sit down with his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio on September 18th in Washington, amid a number of complex issues facing the ROK-U.S. alliance.
The two last met face to face back in February, and a lot has happened since.
Our Kim Do-yeon is in the studio for more on this.

Good to be here.

1. Let's start with what's actually going to be discussed. Among the more pressing items are the troop deployment request for the Strait of Hormuz and the nuclear-powered submarine project. Where do those two stand?

On Hormuz, the government has been reviewing exactly what kind of contribution it might make.
A deployment wouldn't necessarily mean combat troops; it could just as easily be ammunition, missiles, or maintenance support, areas where Korea already has real capacity to contribute.
But if it does involve troops, the calculation gets more complicated, because it involves real risk.

"It's not going to be some peace operation. Our men and women are going in harm's way. We should not take lightly what this decision is going to involve. Having said that, that's the price that we're going to have to pay as a middle power."

Still, seventy percent of Korea's oil passes through that Strait, so some argue keeping it open and safe is, squarely, a national interest, risk aside.
Then there's the nuclear-powered submarines.
Washington gave a green light in principle, but the framework still has to be built from scratch, including technology transfer, where it gets built, and how a related dispute over Westinghouse's intellectual property gets resolved.
A former U.S. diplomat sees it as part of a longer-term push to strengthen the alliance overall.

"This is a future plan, and it's a stronger alliance, full stop. Whatever challenges we face from China, North Korea, or elsewhere in the next ten or twenty years, wouldn't it be better to have an ally that's better equipped."

And investment is likely to come up too, though the details will actually be worked out separately by the industry minister, not in this meeting.

2. Stepping back from those individual issues, where does the alliance actually stand right now, in the bigger picture?

Analysts who've been tracking the relationship closely say it's not really about any single issue like Hormuz or the submarine anymore; it's about how Washington is approaching Seoul as a partner overall.

"It's a change in how the alliance is perceived, and how the United States is looking at Korea as a partner. The U.S. is looking more and more to Korea for investment first, looking for Korea to be more supportive of its policies."

So investment, and how supportive Seoul is willing to be, have become the lens Washington is measuring the relationship through. And that's shaping how Seoul is approaching this meeting too.

3. Given all that, is there anything Korea can actually get out of this, rather than just responding to what Washington is asking for?

Some analysts push back on the idea that Korea is just accepting requests one after another.
They argue Seoul is in a position to negotiate something back for each commitment it makes, starting with Hormuz itself.

"Through this deployment, we could ask the United States for a more cooperative consultation mechanism, especially when it comes to strategic flexibility. A better relationship on the defense industry is something we could request: better access to U.S. supply chains, waivers so the Korean defense industry can access U.S. markets, maintenance of U.S. equipment with Korean facilities."


Haggard makes a similar point at a broader level, that Seoul doesn't have to stay on the back foot managing every request that comes in.

"You're not always just responding to incoming fire. Instead, you can say, what's worth it to us is to shift this towards a great opportunity. Let's shift towards the AI realm, where we have so much that's in our interest, that supports the alliance."

That's ultimately the balancing act Seoul is walking into this meeting with, weighing what Washington is asking for against what it can actually bring back.
Thank you, Do-yeon, for the coverage. Appreciate it.
Thank you.

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2026-09-16, 20:00 (KST)