ACHIEVEMENTS & TASKS OF YOON’S TRIP

[Anchor Lead]

President Yoon has returned from his six-day tour of Southeast Asia. He carried out his "value-based diplomacy" by holding summit talks with the leaders of the U.S., Japan and China. However, many tasks still lie ahead. The rival parties have shown contrasting responses.

[Pkg]

The presidential office says the latest summit meetings with the leaders of the U.S. and Japan have bolstered extended deterrence against North Korea. It also pointed to the Indo-Pacific strategy and the Korea-ASEAN solidarity initiative as its top achievements of President Yoon's trip. In the first Korea-China summit in three years, the South Korean leader urged Beijing to play a more responsible role in countering North Korea's threats. The two heads of state also reaffirmed their commitment to further developing bilateral ties.

[Soundbite] Kim Sung-han(Nat‘l Security advisor) : "This trip has set an important milestone in S. Korea's diplomacy."

However, Beijing still appears cautious as South Korea, the U.S. and Japan displayed strong solidarity on North Korea issues. Seoul's announcement of the new Indo-Pacific strategy in line with Washington's policy to compete with China could also become a challenge for Seoul's diplomatic relations with Beijing. The presidential office insists Seoul and Beijing still have sufficient room for working out their diplomatic issues, and disagreed with comments alluding to Korea's diplomacy wholeheartedly being devoted to the U.S. Meanwhile, the controversy over the presidential office's decision to ban MBC reporters from the presidential aircraft continued to brew throughout Yoon's trip. Furthermore, the presidential office's exclusive camera team covered 11 of the president's 22 official events during the trip. Restricting press access at major events such as a Korea-U.S. summit is quite unprecedented, although the presidential office says this was agreed upon with the U.S. Yoon also came under fire for his biased view of the media by having a private conversation with only two friendly reporters aboard his plane.

[Soundbite] Park Hong-keun(Floor Leader, Democratic Party) : "This trip has set a shameful record for the control of the media."

The Democratic Party criticized Yoon's trip for its mediocre achievements, while the ruling PPP lauded it for normalizing diplomatic relations.