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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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