U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to partially concede congressional concerns that the South Korean government has tilted pro-China and leftward. Rubio described this as a feature of democracy and acknowledged that Seoul's stance toward American companies, including Coupang, had influenced the bilateral trade agreement.
At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told Rubio, "South Korea's democracy has tilted strongly to the left and is opening more pathways to China," adding, "They have, in fact, begun to oppress a number of our companies, including Meta and Coupang." Issa further requested that a Wall Street Journal column citing U.S. conservatives' arguments about the South Korean government's leftward shift be entered into the meeting record.
Rubio responded, "As in the case of Japan, democracies sometimes elect leaders who are more favorable to U.S. interests, and sometimes leaders with different perspectives." He added, "This is a peculiarity of dealing with democratic nations. We see this often in our own region, the Western Hemisphere." His remark referenced the frequent emergence of leftist, anti-American regimes in South America despite the region's democratic systems and elections. Rubio comes from a Cuban immigrant family.
Rubio emphasized, "If someone is elected through legitimate elections, we respect the sovereign choice of the people. Even when democratically elected leaders take positions contrary to U.S. interests, because they are democratic governments, we do not seek to overthrow or remove them."
On the Coupang discrimination controversy in South Korea, Rubio said, "Our companies are facing difficulties not only in South Korea. The European Union is targeting our technology firms with unfair measures." He continued, "This is a factor in how we engage, even where we have strategic alignment with South Korea. Frankly, some of South Korea's attitudes toward American companies also affected the conclusion of the trade agreement." It was the first time Rubio had publicly raised the Coupang issue.
Asked by Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), who visited Seoul in late March and met with President Lee Jae-myung, whether there had been any change in U.S. nuclear deterrence on the Korean Peninsula, Rubio replied, "Our posture remains the same." He added, "We are not trying to provoke a crisis there, jump into a war, or create any problem. At the working level, we maintain a very strong relationship with South Korea."
