Prime Minister Addresses New Embassy, International Standing, Sending Troops to War, Election Stance

At the end of the visit to South Korea from 24-28 July 2023, Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, sat down with Chronicle.lu for a one-to-one interview, addressing a number of issues.

Chronicle.lu: The opening of a dedicated embassy in South Korea has been announced, with Jacques Flies the Ambassador-designate. Can you give a timeframe on its becoming reality? And what was the reasoning behind setting up a dedicated embassy here?

Prime Minister Bettel: The first thing is that we see that the relations with Korea are deep, but there is still potential on economic topics too. We are the only one from the countries that fought (in the Korean War) that are not present with an embassy. We see that it is very difficult to cover Japan and Korea together. So, we had discussions and the Minister of Foreign Affairs proposed to open an embassy here in Seoul. As we can see, it was much appreciated that we are going to open one. (On the) agenda: now, I'm speaking from my point of view... Jacques Flies (ambassador-designate) is the Secretary-General of government and we won't let him leave before the beginning of October (note: the general election is being held on 8 October) and we need to organise between people, normally the end of the year.

Chronicle.lu: The main reasons for this visit are to do with the 70th commemoration of the Korean War Armistice - that war in the 1950s has been the only time when Luxembourg sent troops into combat. You have mentioned that you have seen Luxembourg being held in high regard internationally: how have you witnessed this here in Korea?

Prime Minister Bettel: I think that there was no one we met who didn't speak about the Luxembourgish presence. I had that yesterday when I bought a sandwich  - the guy asked me when I came from and I said we were from Luxembourg. He didn't know where it was, I could see that on his face, but he reminded me that we were a participating country in the Korean War, so I was very impressed about that... And as you said, it was one of the very few time we have sent troops to war; it was voluntary troops and when you listen to the reasons, for example of Monsieur Moyen (Luxembourgish Korean War veteran), he reminds us as a young guy that Luxembourg was attacked by the German Offensive and he said "I do not want to just look at what happened in our country and the Americans came to help us - I wanted to help the Koreans". You see how much appreciated (he was) and for me the reason was to come with a veteran. I was here five years ago and for me to be able to join a veteran was an honour.

Chronicle.lu: There are parallels between the Korean War in the 1950s and the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. What more can Luxembourg do to help Ukraine? Is sending in troops an option, like Luxembourg did supporting South Korea?

Prime Minister Bettel: Nowadays we have what we call international rules, we also have NATO, which is a result after the Second World War and, now with NATO, we have the principle that if one country is attacked then the others will react. There is a whole discussion and we have to know that, if we say "A", that means also "B". It means Ukraine and NATO, it means war between America, European countries and NATO members against Russia. Today, is it Russia alone? There is a risk of a third world war. I don't want to have that risk, or we have an international position that we should do it and then we will have to decide if we are joining, or not, and in an international way I think it's not as the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, with an army of 900 or 1,000 persons, who will now tell you if we should, or not, participate. For me, what is more important is that impunity isn't a rule and so now people have to be punished.

Chronicle.lu: The upcoming general election in Luxembourg has been raised during this trip. The DPs did very well in the recent local elections. If your party retains or even increases its number of seats in October, will it seek to extend the three-way coalition, or would you consider becoming a junior partner with the CSV, providing they remain the largest party?

Prime Minister Bettel: The first thing is that I want to have a good result in the elections. I would love to remain as Prime Minister, but I don't want to stay Prime Minister (just) to be Prime Minister, so it depends on what would be the programme of the next government for the next five years. I'm ready to enter a government with the partners (with which) I'm able to find common ground and where we are able to get through most of the points I'm getting into the elections. I'm not married to any party (for a coalition); on family questions, on social questions and climate questions, I'm more close to my actual (current) partners than CSV's positions, but on economic questions, I'm closer for the moment to the CSV than to my actual coalition partners. So it will depend on what will be the proposals - I don't know the proposals from all the parties - but there are some red lines, as with everyone. I'm ready to do the best I can, but with the programme I believe in.

Chronicle.lu: (On the last point,) would those discussions potentially take place before the election or after the election?

Prime Minister Bettel: It depends on how strong you are. If you lose the election, you don't put conditions; if you are strong in the elections, you are able to say what are the conditions to be a partner.