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Yoon thinks his ‘American Pie’ rendition at White House was good

U.S. President Joe Biden (L) gifts South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol a guitar signed by artist Don McLean during a state dinner for Yoon at the White House in Washington on April 26, 2023.(Yonhap/IANS)

When Yoon grabbed the microphone and delivered the first few lines, he received a standing ovation and loud applause from the audience.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday revealed that he was taken aback when asked to sing the 1971 hit by Don McLean, “American Pie”, at a state dinner at the White House last week but believes he delivered his rendition quite well.

During his six-day state visit to the US last week, Yoon attended the dinner hosted by US President Joe Biden, and close to the end of it, Biden asked Yoon to sing the song, one of the South Korean President’s favourites, reports Yonhap News Agency.

“When President Biden asked me to come up to the stage, I thought I would be given a guitar, but I was pretty taken aback when he asked me to sing,” Yoon said during a dinner meeting with the leadership of the ruling People Power Party.

When Yoon grabbed the microphone and delivered the first few lines, he received a standing ovation and loud applause from the audience.

Biden then presented him with a guitar signed by McLean on behalf of the musician, who could not attend the dinner.

Just minutes before Yoon’s surprise performance, three Broadway singers gave music performances and sang a rendition of “American Pie”.

“As shown in pictures, I thought I sang very well, as singers from ‘Miss Saigon’ showed a surprising expression seeing me singing,” he said.

Meanwhile, South Korea and Japan agreed to resume their long-stalled Finance Ministers’ meeting “at an appropriate time this year” as the two countries gear up to normalise economic ties after several years of trade tensions.

Officials from Japan will visit South Korea next month to work out details of the meeting, Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday citing the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between South Korean Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho and his Japanese counterpart, Shunichi Suzuki, on the sidelines of the 56th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Incheon.

“Japan and South Korea share common values, such as freedom and human rights,” Choo said ahead of the meeting.

“(As the two countries) consider the free trade and market system to be the key of their economic management, there are many areas in which the two governments and the private sectors can join forces.”

The Finance Minister said it is significant that South Korea and Japan have resumed shuttle diplomacy, or regular visits to each other’s countries by their leaders.

President Yoon Suk Yeol was the first South Korean president in 12 years to make a bilateral visit to Japan in March.

ALSO READ: Yoon, Biden vow more cooperation to deter N.Korean threat

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‘Destabilising’: Russia slams US-ROK nuke deal

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and U.S. President Joe Biden hold a joint news conference after their summit at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 26, 2023..(Yonhap/IANS)

The US and South Korea jointly issued the Washington Declaration on April 26 as one of the outcomes of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to the US.

The recent nuclear agreement reached by the US and South Korea will have a negative effect on regional security and undermine global stability, said the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“We took note of reports on an agreement that was reached between the US and the ROK (the Republic of Korea) on joint planning with regard to the use of nuclear weapons,” said the Ministry’s spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, in a statement on Friday.

“This development is clearly destabilising… and will have serious negative consequences for regional security and will impact global stability,” the statement added.

According to the statement, by committing to policies of “extended nuclear deterrence,” the US and its allies are duplicating schemes that Washington has been practicing for decades following the Cold War, and still practices with its NATO allies.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. (Credit: Twitter/ @mfa_russia)

It added that such practices will ultimately undermine international security, lead to a further escalation of tensions, spur security crises, and provoke an arms race, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We call on the US and its allies…to refrain from steps that lead to the weakening of the overall level of security for all states,” said the statement.

The US and South Korea jointly issued the Washington Declaration on April 26 as one of the outcomes of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to the US.

According to reports, the declaration says that the US will upgrade the extended deterrence it provides to South Korea, including enhanced consultation over a nuclear crisis, increased military exercises and training activities, table-top simulation, the establishment of a new Nuclear Consultative Group, and a further expansion of the US regular visibility of strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula.

ALSO READ: N.Korea pledges elevated ties with Russia

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US, South Korea agree on expanded military drills to deter North

Military drills between the allies had been scaled back amid the Covid-19 pandemic and as part of efforts to engage the North under the previous administrations, reports Asian Lite News

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his visiting US counterpart Joe Biden on Saturday agreed to begin discussions on expanding joint military exercises between the two countries amid growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

The two reached the agreement during their first-ever summit in Seoul, which took place as both countries believed a nuclear test or intercontinental ballistic missile launch from the North was imminent and even could happen while Biden was touring the region, reports Yonhap News Agency.

“Both leaders agree to initiate discussions to expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training on and around the Korean Peninsula,” a joint statement on the summit said.

Military exercises between the allies had been scaled back amid the Covid-19 pandemic and as part of efforts to engage the North under the previous administrations.

Yoon told a joint press conference after the summit that he and Biden discussed the need to hold “various forms” of exercises, including under the scenario of a nuclear attack from the North.

The statement said Biden also reaffirmed the US “extended deterrence” commitment to South Korea using the “full range of US defence capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defence capabilities”.

Extended deterrence is the notion that the US would deploy its full range of military assets to defend its ally, South Korea, in the event of a contingency.

Securing that commitment from Biden was seen as particularly important, as the North continues to advance its weapons programmes, testing missiles on 16 separate occasions this year alone, including its first test of an ICBM in over four years in March.

Yoon and Biden “condemn the DPRK’s escalatory ballistic missile tests this year”, the joint statement said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“President Yoon and I committed to strengthening our close engagement and work together to take on challenges of regional security, including addressing the threat posed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, by further strengthening our deterrence posture and working toward a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Biden said at the press conference.

The two leaders expressed concern over the recent Covid-19 outbreak in North Korea and offered to work with the international community to provide assistance to help fight the virus, according to the statement.

Biden told the press conference the US had offered vaccines to North Korea but received no response.

Yoon has previously made repeated offers of vaccines and other medical supplies but has also been met with silence.

On whether he was open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Biden said “that would depend on whether he was sincere and whether he was serious”.

Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, held three meetings with Kim for ultimately fruitless talks on dismantling the North’s nuclear programme.

ALSO READ: Biden, Yoon make supply chain pledge at Samsung plant