On Tuesday, May 16, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Seoul to meet the president of the Republic of Korea Yoon Sookie Yeol on May 17. This was the first visit by the Head of Government of Canada to the Republic of Korea in 9 years. It took place on the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ottawa and Seoul and both leaders at a joint press conference announced a road map for the next sixty years (sic!). The gathering was held at the margins of the 49th G7 summit held in Hiroshima on 19-21 May and in which Canada participated as a associate and South Korea as an observer.
Two US vassals are to cooperate with China, to exchange intelligence in the context of US rivalry, to coordinate positions in relation to the Korean People's Democratic Republic, and to deliver critical metals from Canada to South Korea for the production of electrical vehicles specified as lithium, nickel and cobalt. Agreements on strategical metallic supply chains, clean energy generation and energy and safety cooperation have been signed.
Also on May 16 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the space center announcing his intention to launch a North Korean spy satellite. South Korean experts quoted by the Associated Press point to mid-June as a possible deadline for an effort to carry out the satellite. erstwhile North Korean satellites were launched in 2012 and 2016.
Meanwhile, Canadian-South Korean relations are dominated by economical issues. Canada exports copper and iron to South Korea, while importing cars and electronics, besides wanting to accelerate its own EV production. J. Trudeau so met with the board of the South Korean LG Energy Solution, which suspended a 3.7 billion construction along with Canadian Stellantis. USD and intended to make 2,500 fresh jobs for a battery mill to EV in Windsor, South Ontario, after it did not receive grants delayed for this intent due to disputes between the Canadian national Government and the Ontario provincial government. Ottawa has been pushing Seoul for at least 1 year to increase the supply of artillery ammunition. In the meantime, Seoul seeks to diversify its abroad economical policy besides in the Chinese direction, after Joe Biden's administration introduced protectionist measures against the US market.
However, both countries have a bad relation with China: Canada stopped in 2018 on suspicion of espionage financial manager Huawei Technologies Meng Wanzhou and China in consequence arrested 2 Canadian businessmen; in the second week of May China announced a persona non grata Canadian diplomat, In April, Beijing and Seoul engaged in a diplomatic argument against tensions in the Taiwan Strait, despite China being the largest external trading partner for the Republic of Korea.
The structure of South Korean-Canadian economical and technological relations emphatically illustrates the correctness of G7's anachronism charges; as a associate of the G7's formula, Canada acts towards its non-member South Korea as a natural material state, having besides an economy and an army smaller and weaker than South Korean. The G7 is simply a western Washington vassal club and there are no grounds for treating it as a typical body for the structure of the planet economy. The BRICS is becoming specified a more realistic project.
Ronald Lasecki
