South Korean President to Meet Biden at White House  

SEOUL - South Korean President Moon Jae-in on May 21 will be the second world leader to meet face-to-face with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House, marking what may be his final visit to the United States and last chance to fulfill campaign pledges before his term ends.  

The discussions between the two leaders arrive just a few weeks after the Biden administration finalized its monthlong review of North Korea policy, one that signals a departure from previous administrations by pursuing a "calibrated, practical approach," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.   This shift in rhetoric — one that strays from Obama-era strategic patience while refraining from making flashy deals — has yielded a "sense of calm" as Moon and Biden prepare to engage in talks, said Jean Lee, director of the Korea program at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.   "When you use that rhetoric, that fire and fury, it gives North Korea the justification to test, and when they have that, it means the arsenal gets that much stronger," Lee said. "The steadiness being exuded consistently by the Biden administration is designed to avoid this escalation of tensions we saw in the early parts of the Trump presidency."