The ROK–US Alliance

Abstract

This chapter explores drivers of the resilience of the South Korea–US alliance in the midst of changes and challenges that could have led to its weakening or collapse. Since its founding in 1953, the alliance has expanded far beyond its original mandate of preventing a second North Korean invasion and containing the spread of communism during the Cold War. A number of dramatic changes have taken place over the lifetime of the alliance, including South Korea’s remarkable economic development and democratization, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of China to become the world’s second largest economy. The alliance has also weathered a number of difficult phases—including the ‘Nixon and Carter shocks’ of the late 1960s and 1970s, tensions over North Korea policy in the early 2000s, and recent years of discord over narrow alliance issues like military cost-sharing, while coordination on pressing security matters was sparse. This chapter reviews alliance patterns since its foundational years and argues that a combination of two factors explain the resilience of the alliance: (a) the persistence of common security interests; and (b) alliance management strategies in Washington and Seoul—including periodic US efforts to reassure South Korea of its security commitments and South Korea’s pursuit of new areas of cooperation, even as it has developed and sought greater autonomy.