SEOUL - With a strongly pro-America leader in Mr Yoon Suk-yeol, the expectation was that the United States would have little problem in getting South Korea on board with its initiatives aimed at rallying like-minded partners against China.

For instance, there is the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) as a new means to link transpacific economies while plugging the gap left by America's pullout from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.