South Korea's Yoon on summer holiday as Nancy Pelosi visits Seoul from Taiwan
In South Korea, the phrase "nunchi" is used to describe the subtle art of gauging the mood of an influential person, and it has trended on social media amid speculation that President Yoon Suk-yeol is avoiding US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in deference to China's wrath.
The senior US official arrived in Seoul on Wednesday night as part of her Asian tour, following a high-profile visit to Taiwan that sparked fury from Beijing.
The Congresswoman, who is second in line to the US presidency, will on Thursday meet South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and leaders of the ruling conservative People Power Party, as well as the opposition Democratic Party of Korea.
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Pelosi and Kim plan to issue a joint press statement that will summarise their talks, which are expected to last about an hour, but they will not take any questions from journalists, according to a parliamentary source.
Conspicuously, Yoon has no plans to meet Pelosi as he is currently on a summer holiday, an official at the presidential office said.
This official denied earlier press reports that Yoon, who is taking a break at his home in Seoul, may head out to receive Pelosi.
"In the first place, there was no such a plan (for Yoon's meeting with Pelosi) as the president's vacation schedule coincides with her visit here," she told journalists.
The presidential office "welcomes" Pelosi's visit to South Korea and it hopes her talks with National Assembly Speaker Kim will be productive, the official said.
Asked about Pelosi's controversial visit to Taiwan, she said: "Our government's stance is that we will maintain close communication with the nations concerned on all issues under the banner of the need for peace and stability in the region through dialogue and cooperation."
But her explanations didn't go down well with many sceptical Twitter users.
"Because of vacation? No way. Yoon is not meeting Pelosi as he is nunchi-ing around China," one of the most popular posts said. Had this happened to Yoon's predecessor - liberal former president Moon Jae-in - conservatives and news media would have "raised hell with it" and accused Moon of nunchi-ing around Beijing, the post said.
Pelosi will have no chance to meet Foreign Minister Park Jin either, as he had left for Cambodia earlier on Wednesday to attend an Asean foreign ministers' meeting there.
"Yoon avoids meeting with Pelosi to nunchi around China. But Foreign Minister Park's trip abroad timed with her visit here is not something that befits the conservatives who bet everything on pro-US diplomacy," another user tweeted.
Park Won-gon, a political-science professor at Ewha Womans University, said the scheduling of Yoon's holiday and preparations for Park's visit to Cambodia had predated Pelosi's announcements of an Asia trip.
He noted, however, that Pelosi's visit could be inconvenient for the National Assembly, which is controlled by the liberal opposition Democratic Party, together with the Speaker's chair.
"Pelosi's trip to Asia is focused on deterring China by cementing alliances among democratic countries in the Indo-Pacific region," Park said. "During her visit here, she is likely to talk about North Korea's human rights and an (increasingly assertive) China, which are awkward subjects for the Democratic Party.
Kim Heung-kyu, director of the US-China Policy Institute at Ajou University, told local media it did appear the top leaders were seeking not to further politicise the situation.
"If this were in the past, the president or the foreign minister would have tried to hold talks with her, but I think that this time the government seems to have decided not to excessively politicise the issue and unnecessarily antagonise China," Kim told the Korea Times.
Pelosi's trip also comes at a time Yoon faces leadership challenges, with plunging popularity ratings, allegations of nepotism and controversies involving his wife.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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