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1 1 (July 21, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/goveijx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service inkurrning the Iegislative debate since 1914 South Korea: Background and U.S. Relations Overview 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). The alliance also helps the United States to promote its interests in East Asia and around the globe, including through South Korean contributions of troops to U.S.-led military operations. Approximately 28,500 U.S. troops are based in the ROK. The economic relationship is bolstered by the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), implemented in 2012. In 2021, South Korea was the United States' seventh-largest trading partner (goods and services trade combined), and the United States was South Korea's second-largest trading partner, behind China. In March 2022, South Koreans narrowly elected former chief prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol as their next president. Yoon, who represents the conservative People Power Party (PPP), succeeded president Moon Jae-in from the progressive Minjoo (Democratic) Party. Yoon says he wants to transform South Korea into a global pivotal state by raising its profile beyond the Korean Peninsula, by playing a larger role in regional groupings, and by becoming a more active partner in the United States' Indo- Pacific strategy. Ten days after Yoon's May 2022 inauguration, President Biden visited South Korea. In addition to discussing ways to cooperate on North Korea policy, Biden and Yoon broadened the aperture of bilateral cooperation around the globe, announcing steps to deepen cooperation on pandemic prevention, space, and climate change. They also took steps to integrate South Korean companies more fully into U.S. efforts to promote technological development and supply chain resiliency. South Korea became one of 14 inaugural negotiating partners in the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) initiative, a proposed new trade and economic arrangement. North Korea Policy Coordination North Korea is the dominant strategic concern in the U.S.- South Korea relationship. Following the collapse of former President Trump's diplomatic efforts with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2019, Pyongyang largely has ignored U.S. and South Korean outreach, including humanitarian aid offers, and has severed all overt inter- Korean communication channels for extended periods. Since the start of 2022, North Korea has conducted over 20 missile tests, including multiple tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are capable of delivering nuclear warheads. These ICBM test-launches, North Korea's first since November 2017, ended Kim's self- declared ICBM test moratorium. Analysts expect North Updated July 21, 2022 Korea in 2022 to conduct its 7th nuclear weapons test, and first since September 2017. (In 2018, Kim had also announced a moratorium on further nuclear tests.) North Korea also conducts cyberattacks around the globe. Whereas the previous Moon government had emphasized diplomacy with North Korea, Yoon and Biden have emphasized deterrence. They reactivated a high-level consultation group on extended deterrence under the U.S. nuclear umbrella and announced their intent to expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises. Trump and Moon had curtailed the exercises since June 2018. At the May 2022 Biden-Yoon summit, the United States also committed to deploy strategic assets such as stealth fighter jets in a timely and coordinated manner as necessary. In June, the allies staged combined military exercises that included a U.S. aircraft carrier for the first time in over four years. The Biden Administration has stated it is pursuing a calibrated, practical approach that is open to and will explore diplomacy with North Korea while retaining U.S. and international sanctions to achieve the eventual complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. This appears to envision incrementally offering partial sanctions relief in exchange for partial steps toward denuclearization. U.S.-South Korea Security Issues The Biden Administration has worked to repair the alliance. It had been strained during the Trump years, prompting Congress to impose conditions (via the National Defense Authorization Act) on Trump's power to withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea. In February 2021, the Biden Administration concluded a cost-sharing negotiation with South Korea that boosted South Korea's contribution to alliance costs by 13.9%. The ROK traditionally has paid for about 50% (over $800 million annually) of the total non-

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