Cheong Wa Dae has been sensitively protective of when to release the schedule of President Park Geun-hye’s first overseas trip to the U.S., its biggest ally.

The exact date and destinations were withheld until Tuesday morning ― even despite the supposed slip-of-tongue by visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who blurted out during a joint press conference in Seoul last Friday that Park will be holding summit talks with U.S. counterpart Barack Obama on May 6.

The media here cooperated, refraining from reporting the date as requested by the presidential office, something quite unexpectedly accommodating by the press, which the government often described as being quite ruthless. 

It was kept under wraps even after U.S. national security adviser Tom Donilon “exposed” that Park would be visiting Washington in May during a speech at the Asia Society event last month.

Finally, in the early morning of Tuesday, the White House said in a regular briefing that the summit talks will be held on May 7. About two hours later, Cheong Wa Dae confirmed the date with more details of Park’s trip.

To questions about the timing of the announcement, presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung answered, “It is a diplomatic practice for the inviting country to release the date first.”

But the exact opposite appeared to be the practice in the past. In 2008, Cheong Wa Dae was the first to announce then-President Lee Myung-bak was to visit Washington. In 2003, again, Cheong Wa Dae announced then-President Roh Moo-hyun’s visit before the White House. The U.S. at the time would confirm the schedule at a briefing session held after.

Based on what Yoon explained, Seoul must have been breaking the “diplomatic practice” all along.

According to diplomatic sources, such announcements of presidential trips depend on discussions with the counterpart country, and the timing of the announcement varies according to different circumstances.

While it is diplomatic manner for the inviting country to release the news first, it would often agree to the visiting government to announce it first if for the sake of highlighting the significance of the relevant trip, the source explained.

In that case, the circumstance this time looks to be that the announcement of the South Korean president’s first overseas trip hinged significantly on whenever Washington was ready to release it, be it during a speech, a press conference or a regular briefing session.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)