Digital Library

The Donald Trump administration’s much-awaited National Security Strategy (NSS) landed last week with an audible thud. The somewhat truncated document is an odd combination of social media-style triumphalism and an effort to lay a strategic veneer on the administration’s often chaotic and contradictory policies. But the document clearly expresses an America-First view of the world,…

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s attendance at China’s Victory Day parade in September reflects a potentially ominous development in Northeast Asia’s regional security landscape. At Tiananmen Square, Kim stood alongside Chinese and Russian leaders—just as his grandfather did in 1959—a display widely interpreted as a gesture of opposition to the United States and the Western-led…

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s recent appearance on a cooking reality TV show may seem like light entertainment, but it is actually reflective of a strategic highlighting of a key facet of U.S.-South Korea relations. According to KEI’s 2025 annual survey, food is both the most popular aspect of South Korean culture among Americans…

U.S. and South Korean defense authorities met for the fifty-seventh Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) on November 4 in Seoul. Conventionally, the SCM Joint Communiqué is released at the conclusion of the meeting; however, this year it was delayed, coinciding with the release of the long-awaited Joint Fact Sheet on U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s meeting…

APEC 2025 delivered the most consequential economic and diplomatic activity Korea has seen in years. The Gyeongju summit produced a mix of bilateral breakthroughs, technology partnerships, and regional commitments, and, perhaps most importantly for the U.S.-Korea relationship, gave Korea space to reposition its relationship in the Indo-Pacific. The result is a meeting that advanced meaningful…

The United States’ latest trade actions against Canada and China have injected new economic policy uncertainty. On October 23, President Donald Trump abruptly halted trade discussions with Canada in response to the province of Ontario airing an advertisement criticizing the U.S. tariffs. Two days later, on October 25, Trump announced that there would be an…

The joint U.S.-South Korea fact sheet published November 13 offers long-awaited clarity on how Washington will treat Korean goods, investment, and digital services under the emerging “Trump Round.” With global markets watching for signals on Section 232 tariffs, supply-chain stability, and changes to U.S. industrial policy, the document lays out the initial rules of the…