South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will meet his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden at the White House on April 26, 2023 – a rare state visit that comes as the two nations seek to confront common concerns.
The event is only the second state visit to the U.S. of a foreign head of state during the Biden administration, following a trip by President Emmanuel Macron of France in late 2022. That the White House handed the honor to Yoon, a relative political novice before taking office in May 2022, may come as a surprise to some foreign policy observers. Seoul does not carry the same clout in international politics as some other U.S. allies. It is an important economic partner but so, too, are Japan, Germany, Canada and Mexico – all of whom rank above South Korea in terms of overall U.S. trade.
