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1 1 (December 11, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbcxt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 01;0i E~$~ & p\w -- , gn'a', goo mppm qq\ , q I aS 11LIANJILiN, Updated December 11, 2019 South Korea: Background and U.S. Relations South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea, or ROK) is one of the United States' most important strategic and economic partners in Asia. The U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty, signed in 1953 at the end of the Korean War, commits the United States to help South Korea defend itself, particularly from North Korea (officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK), and the alliance has given the United States a partner and a forward presence in Asia that help it promote U.S. interests in East Asia. Approximately 28,500 U.S. troops are based in the ROK. The U.S.-ROK economic relationship is bolstered by the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). South Korea is the United States' seventh-largest trading partner, and the United States is South Korea's second-largest trading partner, behind China. Policy cooperation between the United States and South Korea has been inconsistent under the administrations of Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in. Moon, a progressive, was elected in May 2017 after a decade of conservative rule. On the one hand, Moon and Trump have aligned aspects of their approaches toward North Korea, with both pursuing a rapprochement with Pyongyang in 2018 and 2019. They also navigated a potentially major trade dispute by agreeing in 2018 to relatively minor revisions to the KORUS FTA. On the other hand, underlying tensions have begun to surface. The U.S.-ROK Special Measures Agreement (SMA) on how to divide the costs of basing U.S. troops in South Korea expires at the end of 2019. The Trump Administration has demanded Seoul increase its payments by 400%, and Trump publicly said it is debatable whether the U.S. troop presence is in U.S. interests. Latent disagreements over North Korea policy also may flare up, particularly if U.S.-North Korea relations return to an antagonistic state. Trump's tendency to change policy unexpectedly adds a further element of uncertainty to U.S.- ROK relations. Northz Koea Pkkyda~ North Korea is the dominant strategic concern within the U.S.-South Korea relationship. In 2016 and 2017, North Korea conducted scores of missile tests and three nuclear weapons tests, demonstrating major strides in its ability to strike the continental United States with a nuclear-armed ballistic missile. The Obama and Trump Administrations responded by expanding multilateral and unilateral sanctions against North Korea. After taking office in May 2017, Moon supported Trump's maximum pressure campaign, but also retained his long- standing preference for engaging Pyongyang. During 2017, Trump Administration officials, including the President, repeatedly raised the possibility of launching a preventive military strike, which could have triggered DPRK retaliation against South Korea. The combination of the fear of war, an ideological preference for engagement, and a belief that South Korea should shape the future of the Korean Peninsula drove Moon to improve inter-Korean relations and push for U.S.-DPRK talks. : : :: . ............................. :.. .: ,,,,,, :::::::: ,,,,,,,, ::::::. .. . y ............................ ., ............................,,,, In208,DRK~ leader K7cimJng-uron dcaeditoy developing nuclear warhead and JCBM capability, said he would suspend nuclear testing, and signaled his willingness to engage in talks with the United States and South Korea. Kim and Moon met three times during the year, both before and after Kim's summit with Trump in Singapore in June, a meeting Moon brokered. During his diplomatic outreach, Kim pledged to: work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula; not conduct nuclear or long- range missile tests while dialogue with the United States continues; and allow the permanent dismantlement of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear site. He and Moon also negotiated a military confidence-building arrangement. Kim and Trump met again in Hanoi in February 2019, but the negotiations collapsed due to differences over the scope and sequencing of concessions, specifically North Korean denuclearization measures in exchange for sanctions relief. Despite a third Trump-Kim meeting for one hour in June 2019, U.S.-DPRK and inter-Korean diplomacy has stalled. Moreover, since May 2019, North Korea has conducted multiple short-range ballistic missile tests in violation of United Nations prohibitions. Since the Hanoi summit, North Korea also has refused to interact with South Korea, despite Moon's efforts. Kim has warned that he will only wait until the end of 2019 to see if the United States offers more sanctions relief and security guarantees, raising the possibility that the DPRK will resume major provocations. K~:>

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