Biden administration seeking foreign policies that will stand test of time: Blinken

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- The Biden administration will work to create foreign policies that will endure, even through a change of U.S. administrations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

The top U.S. diplomat said that is why the new administration seeks to work closely with Congress.

"The members of Congress are the representatives of the American people. They provide advice and consent to our policies, and I think one of the things you are going to see from our administration is working as closely as we possibly can with Congress on these issues from the takeoff, not just on the landing," Blinken said at a press briefing on his first full day as secretary.

"I think we stand a better chance in producing the kind of policies that will stand the test of time if we're working closely upfront with Congress. And we'll see where we get, but I'm determined that we do that," he added.

His remarks came in response to a question about how the new U.S. administration seeks to guarantee to others that U.S. foreign policies will not change again four years from now.

In just one week since taking office, Biden has signed dozens of executive orders, many of which reversed policies and actions by the Donald Trump administration, including the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Biden brought the U.S. back to the Paris Agreement hours after he took office last Wednesday.

"When it comes to virtually everything we are doing, and the president has said this many times, when it comes to foreign policy, it is hard to have a sustainable foreign policy, absent the informed consent of the American people," Blinken told the press briefing.

Biden has repeatedly said he will seek to restore U.S. global leadership, as well as its relationship with traditional allies.

Blinken argued that many countries, especially U.S. allies, want his country to again be part of international discussions.

"I have spent a lot of time on the phone already with some of our closest allies and partners...What I have picked up from those conversations already is a very, very strong desire for the United States to be back in the room, back at the table, working with them on the many, many common challenges we face," said Blinken.

The new state secretary did not bring up North Korea in his brief opening remarks, nor did any related questions emerge.

The Biden administration inherits a denuclearization agreement signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit with Trump in Singapore in June 2018.

U.S.-North Korea denuclearization talks, however, have stalled since the second Trump-Kim summit ended without a deal in Hanoi in February 2019.

Blinken earlier said the new administration will review the country's "entire approach and policy" toward North Korea, along with all its options to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table.

Biden's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has stressed the importance of working with South Korea and Japan, but also China and Russia, to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

"Reengaging with South Korea with Japan, as well as with China and Russia, particularly to push for their respect for a sanctions regime against North Korea, is going to be really important," she said in her Senate confirmation hearing earlier Wednesday.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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