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Joe Biden plans to host South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol for state dinner in April
- Preparations for Yoon’s visit and the White House state dinner are under way as Washington and Seoul deepen defence and supply chain cooperation
- Biden went to South Korea last year and is seeking more investment from its firms in the US
US President Joe Biden is planning to host South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol for a White House state dinner this spring, according to people familiar with the matter.
Preparations for the visit and state dinner are under way but the timing remains fluid, the people said. The current plan is for the visit to take place in late April.
The US and South Korea have deepened their cooperation on supply chain resilience to ease dependence on Chinese technology and on security matters as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ramps up his provocations. Pyongyang launched a record number of ballistic missiles last year.
Biden and Yoon spoke in November about their joint efforts to limit North Korea’s ability to fund and advance its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, according to a White House readout.
Biden is expected to head to the region in May, when Japan hosts the G-7 summit.
The high-level dinner would be Biden’s second such event. He hosted French President Emmanuel Macron in December for the first state dinner in more than three years, an event which brought a host of business leaders and celebrities to dine on the White House South Lawn.
Spokespeople for the National Security Council didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A message left at the South Korean embassy also wasn’t immediately returned.
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North Korea’s nuclear power on display amid its largest-ever parade of ICBMs
North Korea’s nuclear power on display amid its largest-ever parade of ICBMs
Biden visited South Korea last year and is seeking more investment from its firms in the US. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. has made massive investments in a semiconductor factory in Texas.
Seoul has condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine and joined the global sanctions imposed on Moscow by the US and other nations around the world. South Korea has supported Kyiv with humanitarian aid but has stopped short of sending weapons to Ukraine.
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