South Korea’s President Addresses US Congress on Thursday

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will address a joint meeting of Congress Thursday as he wraps up his state visit to the United States, a visit marking 70 years of U.S.-South Korea relations.


Six previous South Korean presidents have also addressed Congress.


Yoon met Wednesday with President Joe Biden to discuss the threats posed by an increasingly bold North Korea, how the two nations can cooperate economically, and ways to counter an increasingly powerful China among other issues.


Ahead of those talks the two sides released the Washington Declaration, in which South Korea agreed not to pursue its own nuclear weapons program in return for a greater decision-making role in U.S. contingency planning in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack, and Washington pledged a more muscular U.S. presence in the region.


A pomp-filled state dinner at the White House on Wednesday evening brought Hollywood celebrities, businessmen and politicians to Washington to celebrate.


The occasion was only the second state dinner during the Biden administration – the first was for French President Emmanuel Macron.


On Tuesday, Biden, Yoon and their wives paid a solemn visit to the Korean War Memorial on the National Mall in Washington.