Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and the foreign minister of South Korea, Cho Tae-yul, both acknowledged the challenges to democracy in their nations on Monday while asserting that the alliance between the countries remained strong despite ongoing political turmoil.
“Our relationship is bigger than any one leader, any one government, any one party,” Mr. Blinken said at a news conference with Mr. Cho, alluding to the change in leadership in both nations. The one in South Korea — in which the president was impeached after declaring martial law — took the world by surprise and is still playing out.
“I think what we’ve seen in our own country, as well as in other democracies that have faced challenges, there has been a response that has been openly transparent, that doesn’t pretend we don’t have problems or challenges, that confronts them, that confronts them directly,” Mr. Blinken added.
Mr. Blinken said Russia intends to aid North Korea by sharing space and satellite technology with Pyongyang — and possibly accepting the nuclear weapons program, which would be a reversal of decades of policy. Mr. Blinken first spoke publicly last year of the potential technology sharing by Moscow.
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