While Korea's announcement is only the first step in the process, Korea's eventual membership in the TPP would be a natural outgrowth of the current administration's broader economic and trade policy.

Recent news out of South Korea is the excitement over having “kimchi” likely placed on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritages.

While more than two-thirds of all U.S. states exceeded the average international comparative score of 500, South Korea outpaced them all in math, along with every other country in the world, and all but two U.S. states and two other nations in science.

While Europe continues to decline in military strategic importance, Japan and South Korea have made preparations to carry some of the burden with the United States for decades to come.

In recent weeks some of Asia’s biggest economies, including Korea, have concluded a series of currency swap agreements to facilitate trade without U.S. dollars.

At first glance, Mongolia may seem an unlikely mediator for dealing with North Korea, but as a trusted party by all of the countries involved it could play an important role.