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1 1 (April 5, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govelel0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congre &conaI Resedrch Ser/c< hnorming Ahej lgs ive debate s 'ne 1914 Updated April 5, 2023 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). 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 2022, 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 the People's Republic of China (PRC, or China). Over the past decade, congressional interest in U.S.-ROK relations often has focused on U.S.-ROK cooperation over North Korea and more recently Indo-Pacific policies, the U.S.-ROK alliance, and U.S.-South Korea trade and investment flows. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, in office since May 2022, is seeking to transform South Korea into a global pivotal state by raising its profile beyond the Korean Peninsula and becoming a more active partner in the United States' Indo-Pacific strategy. Yoon issued South Korea's first-ever Indo-Pacific strategy in December 2022. President Joseph Biden and Yoon have capitalized on greater U.S.-ROK strategic alignment by forging closer cooperation on North Korea policy through military exercises and expanding trilateral cooperation with Japan. They also have made efforts to integrate South Korean companies with U.S. efforts to promote technological development and supply chain resiliency. South Korea is one of 14 negotiating partners in the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) initiative, a proposed new trade and economic arrangement. Despite the growing alignment, South Korea's approach to China is less confrontational than the United States', and U.S.-ROK economic friction had increased due to South Korean complaints about the electronic vehicle (EV) provisions in P.L. 117-169, known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). On April 26, 2023, Biden is scheduled to host Yoon Suk-yeol for a State Visit, including a state dinner, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-ROK alliance. North Korea Policy Coordination Historically, North Korea has been the dominant strategic concern in the U.S.-ROK relationship. The Biden Administration in 2021 stated it will pursue an approach that is open to and will explore diplomacy with North Korea to eventually achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, even as U.S. and international sanctions remain in place. The Administration appears to envision offering some sanctions relief in exchange for steps toward denuclearization. Administration officials say they have reached out to North Korea, offering to meet without preconditions, and that the ball is in [Pyongyang's] court. Since the collapse of former President Donald Trump's meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2019, however, Pyongyang largely has ignored U.S. and South Korean outreach. Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 60 missiles, including multiple tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are capable of delivering nuclear warheads. Satellite imagery publicized in 2022 appeared to indicate repairs and enhancements at North Korea's nuclear weapons test site, raising concerns that it will conduct its seventh nuclear weapons test, which would be the first since September 2017. In 2022, Kim pledged to exponentially increase North Korea's nuclear weapons stockpile, said he will never denuclearize, and promulgated a new law expanding the conditions under which North Korea would use nuclear weapons to include non-nuclear attacks and situations that threaten the regime's survival. Pyongyang continues to evade sanctions and conduct illicit activities to raise funds. Inter-Korean tensions have increased since Yoon, who has taken a harder line on North Korea than his predecessor, took office. Whereas the previous ROK government emphasized diplomacy with North Korea, Yoon and Biden have emphasized deterrence. They have reactivated high-level consultations on extended deterrence under the U.S. nuclear umbrella and expanded the scope and scale of combined military exercises (including with Japan), which President Trump and Yoon's predecessor, Moon Jae-in, had curtailed since 2018. The United States has increased deployments of strategic assets such as stealth fighter jets, introduced new unilateral sanctions designations, and proposed new DPRK sanctions measures in the United Nations. (China and Russia vetoed the attempt.) Alongside these steps, the two allies have offered Pyongyang unconditional humanitarian assistance, and Yoon has pledged to provide large-scale economic assistance if North Korea embarks on a genuine and substantive process for denuclearization. U.S.-South Korea Security Issues The Biden Administration has worked to repair the alliance, which had been strained under Trump, prompting the 115th and 116th Congresses to impose conditions (via the FY2019, FY2020, and FY2021 National Defense Authorization Acts) on the President'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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