Foreign Relations

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 Phil Eskeland Economic sanctions to achieve foreign policy objectives do not have a long track record of success.  One analysis of 174 case studies going back to just prior to World War I by the respected Peterson Institute for International Economics concluded that economic sanctions succeeded just 34 percent of the time.  However, the…

By Troy Stangarone In recent interview with the Reuters, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump indicated a willingness to speak with Kim Jong-un. While many of stories on Trump’s comments suggested that he would be willing to meet with North Korea’s leader, in his brief comments to Reuters on the matter he actually said “I would…

With the field of presidential candidates narrowed down to three, here is a look at some of the more recent comments by Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump on the Korean peninsula.   Hillary Clinton February 4, 2016, MSNBC Democratic Debate In response to a question about the biggest national security threat to the…

By Mark Tokola The Republic of Korea and the State of Israel have a lot in common: both were founded in 1948, both had to fight for their early existence, both have succeeded despite a lack of natural resources, both are lively democracies, and both are among America’s closest allies.  On May 14th, the anniversary…