[단독] Chung Eui-young, “Ocus, the United States and Australia notified Korea in advance”

It is known of late that the US gave South Korea a note beforehand while the US was receiving a lot of backlash from its allies, including France, when the US made a surprise announcement of a new security alliance with Britain and Australia. , “AUKUS”.

On the 22nd (local time), Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, who accompanied President Moon Jae-in to New York, where the United Nations General Assembly was held, had a conversation with CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria, an international affairs expert, at the invitation of the American Foreign Relations Association. (CFR), a New York-based think tank.

When Zakaria first asked Minister Jeong’s opinion on the matter, Zakaria said: “The ‘Ocos’ alliance, in which the United States agreed to share nuclear submarine technology with Australia in order to suppress an emerging China, was shocking.” The United States informed me in advance.”

Minister Jeong said, “I met with Secretary Maris Payne in Seoul last week, and that night, Minister Payne left Seoul for Washington and told me the truth over the phone before Oaks was announced,” Minister Jeong said. “I replied that I respect the decision.”

South Korea and Australia held the “5th Korea-Australia Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministerial Meeting (2+2)” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul on the 13th. To this end, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defense Minister Peter Dutton visited Korea, and the two countries will upgrade their bilateral relations To a comprehensive and strategic partnership and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cybersecurity and basic technology cooperation in order to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year, and to expand military and security cooperation. As the talks dragged on, the joint press conference was postponed to around 6 p.m. and assessed as a success.

After the meeting, Australian Foreign Minister Payne was supposed to take a flight to Washington, DC, but at midnight KST, he called Minister Jeong, saying there was a “very important national security issue.” Minister Jeong had a security-related meeting with Minister Payne all day and got a call asking if there was another important issue. Then Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the facts about Orcus through the Deputy Secretary of State, and US President Joe Biden held a 3D video conference in Washington on the 15th afternoon (local time) with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison . The new security alliance “Ocus” was officially announced. After all, the United States and Australia shared important information two days before the announcement to Korea.

At the time, France was expressing outrage, saying the United States had “cut her in the back of the head by the United States.” This is because, with the announcement of Orcus, France blew up the diesel submarine technology transfer contract it had signed with Australia in 2016. However, in reality, the US, UK and Australia have been hit even more diplomatically by these economic woes in that they have kept these important announcements a secret from France. French President Macron visited the UK for the G7 summit in June and had a personal meeting with US President Biden, but he received absolutely no feedback. In response, France took a tough response unprecedented in diplomatic history by recalling the French ambassador to the United States, Philippe Etienne, to its motherland.

During the interview, Zakaria asked Gang Gang-gwan, “Are you concerned that this strike could provoke China again and destabilize the situation in the Indo-Pacific?” destabilizing factor. peace in the region and contribute to stability. “The United States and Australia are deep allies of Korea, and we have deep confidence in the decision-making between them,” Jang added.