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Updated April 19, 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, 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. 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. Yoon has been
invited to address a Joint Meeting of Congress on April 27.

North Korea Polkcy Coordination
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 stealth
fighter jets-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 to provide 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. Since the
collapse of Trump's meetings with North Korean leader
Kim  Jong-un in 2019, however, 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 60 missiles, including multiple tests of intercontinental
ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are capable of delivering
nuclear warheads, and has boosted relations with Russia
and China. 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.

US     .outh   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 National
Defense Authorization Acts) on the President's power to
withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea. In 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-
personnel costs of the U.S. military presence, according to
congressional testimony by U.S. military officials.
Washington  and Seoul have been adapting the alliance to
recognize South Korea's increased military capabilities and
desire for greater autonomy. Since 2006, they have been
preparing to transfer wartime operational control (OPCON)

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