SKorean president to visit Biden in May: White House

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit US President Joe Biden in the second half of May, the White House announced on Thursday.

An exact date has not yet been determined, spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters. The visit will come after Biden meets with Japanese Premier Yoshihide Suga on Friday in what will be Biden's first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader since coming to office.

In-person meetings have been highly restricted amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last month traveled to South Korea and Japan in their first foreign visits in a display of the heightened importance the Biden administration is placing on its east Asian allies amid a more assertive China and North Korea's resumption of ballistic missile tests.

"This visit, following the recent 2+2 visit to Seoul by Secretaries Blinken and Austin, and the national security advisor's trilateral meeting in Annapolis, will highlight the ironclad US-South Korea alliance, and the longstanding ties and friendships between the peoples of our two countries," Psaki said, further elaborating on Moon's visit.