Camp David and South Korea's Indo-Pacific Strategy

The meeting’s significance will be the misplaced expectations it generates

On 18 August 2023 Biden, Yoon and Kishida met at Camp David. The meeting attracted global attention, and was heralded by President Biden as “a new era in partnership” between the three states. I argue that the meeting’s significance will ultimately prove to not be its outcomes, but rather the misplaced expectations it generates.

Camp David expectations

In a diplomatic context, the choice of Camp David was highly significant. A presidential retreat situated in the relatively remote woods of Maryland, meetings at Camp David have historically symbolized a distancing from the day to day, in order to consider the longer-term. With an eye on his domestic audience, Yoon effusively accorded the meeting a significance to match the location:

“From this moment on, Camp David will be remembered as a historic place where the Republic of Korea, the United States, and Japan proclaimed that we will bolster the rules-based international order and play key roles to enhance regional security and prosperity…