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1 1 (December 21, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govenui0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 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 on North Korea, 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 2022. U.S. President Joseph Biden and Yoon have capitalized on greater U.S.- ROK strategic alignment by forging closer cooperation on North Korea policy, including through bilateral and trilateral (with Japan) military exercises. They also have committed to strengthening economic security in line 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. The increased U.S.-ROK alignment was on display during 2023. In April 2023, Biden hosted Yoon for a State Visit. During his visit, Yoon became the 7th ROK president to address a Joint Meeting of Congress, and the first to do so since 2013. Biden and Yoon issued a broad joint statement proclaiming a global comprehensive strategic alliance. To address increased South Korean concerns about the credibility of the U.S. commitment to ROK security, they also issued the Washington Declaration on extended deterrence. In the document, the United States agrees to expand consultations with South Korea on the use of U.S. nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and to enhance the regular visibility of strategic assets, including nuclear- capable weapons systems, deployed to the Peninsula. South Korea restated its commitment not to develop nuclear weapons. Since the late 2010s, as North Korea has advanced its nuclear and missile capabilities, opinion polls have shown strong support from the ROK public to build independent nuclear weapons. In August 2023, Biden Updated December 21, 2023 hosted Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio at Camp David, the three countries' first-ever standalone summit meeting, and announced a set of unprecedented initiatives for trilateral consultation and collaboration that U.S. Administrations have sought for years. North Korea Policy Coord ination Historically, North Korea has been the dominant strategic concern in the U.S.-ROK relationship. 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 Donald Trump and Yoon's predecessor had curtailed. The United States has increased deployments of strategic assets-such as nuclear-armed submarines-to South Korea, introduced new unilateral sanctions designations on North Korea, 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 large-scale economic assistance if North Korea embarks on a genuine and substantive process for denuclearization. Biden Administration officials say they have reached out to North Korea, offering to meet without preconditions. Pyongyang largely has ignored U.S. and South Korean outreach. If negotiations restart, the Administration appears to envision offering some sanctions relief in exchange for steps toward denuclearization. Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 80 missiles, including multiple tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are capable of delivering nuclear warheads, and has boosted relations with Russia and China. Analysts are concerned that North Korea may 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 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. In 2023, North Korea-Russia cooperation expanded, including Pyongyang's sales of weapons to Moscow. U.S.-South Korea Security Issues The Biden Administration has worked to repair and expand the alliance, which had been strained under Trump, prompting the 115th and 1 16th Congresses to impose conditions (via National Defense Authorization Acts) on the

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