The South Koreans persuaded the Americans to slip a carefully crafted sentence in the middle of the 2,632-word joint statement issued by U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at last week’s summit. It was a small line, one that went unnoticed amid all the talk about the U.S.-South Korea alliance and the need for dialogue on denuclearization of North Korea. But it was also the most explosive line in the document.
