Senior South Korean politicians, business leaders head for Trump’s inauguration

Seoul: Senior politicians and business leaders have departed for the United States to attend Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration ceremony, officials said on Sunday.

With Trump set to return to the White House, questions have been raised over whether South Korea can push for high-level engagement with the incoming U.S. administration in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law imposition and his subsequent impeachment.

Seven lawmakers of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, including Rep. Kim Seok-ki from the ruling People Power Party (PPP), departed for Washington on Saturday, reports YOnhap news agency.

The PPP also sent a separate diplomatic delegation to the U.S., and Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo and Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok will also attend Trump’s inauguration ceremony slated for Monday (U.S. time).

Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin will attend the inauguration ceremony, along with Coupang Inc. Chairman Kim Bom; Ryu Jin, Poongsan Group chairman and head of the Federation of Korean Industries; Woo Oh-hyun, chairman of construction and shipping conglomerate SM Group; and bakery giant SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in.

Among them, Chung and Kim will also attend the presidential inaugural ball to be held in the evening of the inauguration day.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden is set to leave office next week, handing over to his successor Donald Trump a reinvigorated network of America’s alliances and partnerships, and a disheartening scorecard on efforts toward the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

Four years ago, Biden came into office on a pledge to knit back America’s alliances that he claimed had “atrophied” during Trump’s first term, as the Democratic president repeatedly stressed the importance of allies and partners as the U.S.’ “greatest strategic assets.”

—IANS