Maskless summit in the pandemic era

Friday’s mask-free summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden not only upgraded the 70-year Seoul-Washington alliance but also demonstrated how far the two nations have come in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Cheong Wa Dae sources on Tuesday, going maskless was almost unthinkable when Seoul’s presidential office was preparing for the leaders’ first face-to-face meeting, as they also took reference to an earlier summit between Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held just a month ago.

Suga was the first foreign leader to visit Biden’s White House, but a raft of restrictions was imposed on the April 16 summit talks due to heightened quarantine measures. The overall itinerary and the size of the delegation was reduced, his wife was not invited, there was no luxurious dinner banquet, and the leaders were double masking throughout the meetings, including a luncheon over burgers.

Concerns deepened among Seoul officials. “There was not much room for us. If we do less than Japan, that would upset our people. If we do more than Japan, Japan would complain to the US,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity.

South Korea and the US started talks to arrange the summit after the two leaders mentioned the value of an in-person meeting during their first phone conversation on Feb. 4.

But little progress was made as both nations struggled to speed up vaccinations. The US, one of the hardest-hit countries by the pandemic, was going all-out to elevate its vaccination rate, while Korea, despite its better control of the waves of infections with a lower fatality rate, was a late-comer when it came to vaccines.

Amid the prolonged discussions, holding a virtual summit was considered as one of the possible options to advance the summit date.

Then, a surprise announcement was made on April 13 ahead of the Biden-Suga summit that Moon would be heading to Washington later in May to hold a summit with the new US president.

With full-fledged preparations starting in a hurry, a top priority was vaccinating some 80 members of the delegation. Moon had already gotten his first AstraZeneca shot, while it was decided other members would be given Pfizer vaccines due to the shorter interval required. Based on the time for immunity building, the summit date was fixed for May 21.

Works for setting up the agenda also started.

“The summit came at a crucial time both historically and politically. It is the first time in almost two decades that the two nations have had liberal presidents at the same time,” said another senior Cheong Wa Dae official who also wished to be unnamed. “The joint statement had to reevaluate the past and present of the 70-year-old alliance and set out the future direction.”

Finally, Moon and the accompanying delegation left for the US capital on May 19. It was the president’s first overseas trip since the pandemic. It was also the first time for him to go on a state visit without first lady Kim Jung-sook since he took office in May 2017.

On the summit day, Cheong Wa Dae officials distributed special masks made for the summit, printed with the two countries’ flags. But upon arrival at the White House, the masks turned out to be unnecessary.

Over the past month, the US has undergone drastic changes as a plethora of vaccines became available across the nation. The government recently announced lifting a mask mandate for all fully-vaccinated people, and that was no exception for the Korean delegation.

Participants at all of the meetings and related events went maskless and no apparent social distancing rules were required as people sat close to each other. Instead of fist bumps, most people shook hands without hesitation. 

One of the key moments on the day was a medal-awarding ceremony for Ralph Puckett Jr., a 94-year-old Army Ranger who fought against Chinese attacks in the Korean War. Moon was the first foreign leader to attend the Medal of Honor event, the highest military honor in the US.

After the ceremony, Biden asked his extended family to come up for photos and invited Moon to jump in for a shot as well. With both presidents kneeling down on either side of Puckett’s wheelchair, it was a rare scene that could not have been imagined several weeks ago.

The friendly and relaxed atmosphere reportedly continued as an icebreaker for the following summit meetings of the maskless leaders, according to Seoul officials. 

Their first one-on-one meeting was held over lunch for 37 minutes, with Maryland crab cakes being served as the main course in consideration of Moon’s preference for seafood. That was in stark contrast to the 20-minute lunch between Biden and Suga. A photo showed that the two sat apart at either end of a 2-meter-long table. 

The following small group and extended meetings were also held longer than scheduled, a reflection of constructive discussions between leaders and their aides. 

“I’m happy to have a meeting with President Biden, but I am really happy to have a meeting without wearing a mask for the first time,” Moon was quoted as saying during the small group meeting by presidential spokesperson Chung Man-ho.

Moon also credited Biden’s leadership for the nation’s fast recovery from the pandemic.

“Since the inauguration of President Biden, the pandemic situation has been fast stabilized thanks to a successful vaccination campaign and expectations are also running high for economic recovery,” Moon said.

Their summit meetings, including a press conference later in the day, lasted for almost six hours, almost double the original timetable. In closing the meetings, the leaders agreed to meet again soon in Seoul.

Returning home on Sunday with a host of agreements covering COVID-19 vaccines, semiconductors and the North Korea policy, Moon called the trip “the best summit ever.”

“I feel great about the first overseas trip since the pandemic, the first face-to-face summit and the first maskless summit,” he wrote on Facebook.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)