Focus Issues

Insight

Recently, the ROK-U.S. alliance is undergoing significant structural changes amidst the Trump administration's grand strategy shift and intensifying U.S.-China strategic competition. The United States is demanding the realignment of U.S. Forces Korea's mission and flexibility in combined exercises for anti-China deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region, which poses new frictions and challenges to the traditional North Korea-focused deterrence structure. For South Korea, it is crucial to institutionalize communication channels between the ROK and the U.S. in line with this modernization trend of the alliance, and to carry out sophisticated strategic coordination to proactively respond to the new security environment, such as multi-domain operations.