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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.
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   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.


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