Foreign Relations

North Korea’s ballistic missile tests in July 2006 shone a spotlight on security issues in East Asia. The media paid much attention to political challenges facing the U.S.-ROK alliance. Another…

During the past few years, the United States has begun three important initiatives that alter its defense commitment to South Korea (Republic of Korea [ROK]). First, Washington started to decrease…

By Duyeon Kim The 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, Korea could have been a watershed moment for nuclear security. The 58 heads of state and world leaders were expected to implement nuclear security measures conceptualized by the Obama administration’s first Summit in Washington two years ago, and pivot toward a harmonized and coherent roadmap.…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz On the day before South Korean President Lee Myung-bak hosted numerous leaders and heads-of-state for the Nuclear Security Summit, he met bilaterally with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India to discuss enhancing the two countries strategic partnership. Looking to build on the intensity and frequency of the high-level meetings that followed President…

By Sarah K. Yun Immediately after the Leap Day Agreement between the U.S. and North Korea, people-to-people exchanges increased significantly with the Track II dialogues in New York and the North Korean orchestra Unhasu’s performance in Paris. However, North Korea recently announced its plan to launch a “satellite” which threatens future of the nutritional assistance…

By Ben Hancock President Obama this week is gearing up for a trip to South Korea that will see him both participate in the international Nuclear Security Summit and make the short journey from Seoul to the border with North Korea. It’s also his first trip to Korea -- indeed, anywhere in Asia -- since…