The U.S.-South Korea alliance has always required careful management of two competing anxieties: fear of abandonment and fear of entrapment. Right now, both are intensifying at the same time. President Donald Trump’s public call for South Korea to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz on March 14 coincided with the Pentagon’s transfer of…
March 18, 2026
The U.S.-South Korea relationship underwent profound changes in 2025 due to a myriad of factors, including new leadership, protectionist trade policies, and continued volatility on the Korean Peninsula and across the Indo-Pacific. As both countries grapple with new realities in the bilateral relationship, Seoul faces the challenge of strengthening alliance credibility while expanding strategic autonomy…
February 2, 2026
The Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI) is pleased to issue Vol. 3, Issue 2 of its new flagship journal, Korea Policy. Our new online journal carries forward the objective and spirit of KEI’s previous publications, the Academic Paper Series’ (APS) On Korea publication, and the Joint U.S.-Korea Academic Studies publication. Like our previous publications, Korea Policy identifies and explores the array…
December 15, 2025
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…