South Korea is a treaty ally with the United States that has to deal daily with the threat from North Korea. The United States has a mutually beneficial pending FTA agreement with South Korea.
How did South Korea rank in the Index of Economic Freedom? Click here to find out. Read More.
The U.S.-South Korea security alliance must evolve to respond to a changing threat environment, an evolving U.S. military strategy, and South Korea’s desire to assume more responsibility for its security. Read More.
President Obama’s new defense strategy is long on rhetoric but bereft of details on how it will actually be implemented. The President boldly promised to maintain or augment U.S. military capabilities against a spectrum of global threats, but planned draconian defense cuts of $1 trillion would undermine the U.S.’s ability… Read more
North Korea is developing a road-mobile ICBM, expanding the future threat to the United States beyond the Taepo Dong 2 long-range missile that would be launched from fixed sites. U.S. intelligence information disclosed to Congress last month reportedly identified recent North Korean progress on the mobile missile system, though no… Read more
Abstract: The failure of the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (“Super Committee”) to come to agreement on reducing the federal deficit raises the real prospect of a total of $1 trillion in … Read more
My name is Bruce Klingner. I am Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own, and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation. It has been said that the… Read more
Abstract: South Korea has initiated a series of extraordinary defense reforms. These reforms are commendable and will redress many of South Korea’s security shortcomings. Seoul will be hampered in these efforts, however, by demographic and fiscal constraints. Yet such barriers must be overcome; an… Read more
After four long years and an estimated $40 billion in lost U.S. exports, the Korea–U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) has finally been submitted to Congress. Although signed in 2007, the FTA languished as U.S. legislators demanded additional conditions on behalf of the auto and beef sectors and organized labor.… Read more
Surprise meetings between North and South Korean nuclear negotiators this weekend and Washington’s subsequent invitation to Pyongyang for bilateral talks in New York are significant for their occurrence. However, it is premature to see them as a breakthrough toward achieving North Korean denuclearization. In fact, they are not even negotiations… Read more
When it came to Communist aggression, President Truman drew a line in the sand. And on June 25, 1950, North Korea crossed it. Truman ordered U.S. troops into battle. In 1953, an armistice ended the bitter conflict, but relations between the U.S. and North Korea -- not to mention those… Read more
Debates about trade and tariffs are a recurring element in U.S. history, and each time they have been resolved in favor of more freedom, Americans have enjoyed long periods of greater prosperity. Legislators should keep this history in mind and advance pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea… Read more
From the Korean War to Operation Just Cause in Panama to Plan Colombia, the U.S. has expended lives and treasure to protect Colombia, Panama, and South Korea from Communist aggression, narco-violence, insurgency, and misrule. The investment has paid off. Today, all three are increasingly prosperous democracies and… Read more
Abstract: Two factors have driven the debate over the planned U.S. military realignment in Japan: campaign pledges made by the Democratic Party of Japan and complaints from Okinawans about the presence of the U.S. military. These factors have… Read more
During their June 16 summit, Presidents Barack Obama and Lee Myung-bak will discuss a daunting agenda filled with challenges. Though overshadowed by North Korean provocations, a critically important issue for both countries is reviving the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA). Although signed in June 2007, the agreement has… Read more
The global financial crisis has had a major impact on perceptions of American power and its relationships in Asia. Many of the perceptions are not founded on facts. Among the facts often overlooked: American companies invest far more abroad than does… Read more
Abstract: Would free trade between the U.S. and South Korea be good or bad? Opponents of the proposed trade agreement between the two countries (KORUS) make frightening arguments about the agreement, claiming everything from lost jobs and U.S. sovereignty to special privileges for foreign… Read more
Of all the foreign policy challenges that Barack Obama inherited from George W. Bush, North Korea may prove the most intractable. Perceptions held by many South Koreans -- and many in American academic circles -- that President Obama would take a dramatically different approach toward Pyongyang, including an embrace of… Read more
Executive Summary After years of needless delay, the South Korea–U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) is finally gathering momentum for congressional approval. Several key Members of Congress who previously opposed the FTA are now advocating its implementation. However, some die-hard opponents are making a last-ditch effort to stoke resistance to the… Read more
Toyota recently announced it will begin exporting U.S.-built Camry cars and Sienna minivans to South Korea from plants...… Read more
Real life can never give social scientists the kind of laboratory-quality tests that natural scientists can create, but...… Read more
In this week's Heritage in Focus, expert Bruce Klingner discusses all the latest surrounding North Korea and the death...… Read more
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) visited Heritage this week to give the annual B.C. Lee lecture, focusing on the...… Read more
Now that Congress has passed free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea, it's a good time to ask why...… Read more
Free trade agreements (FTAs) have economically benefited nations the world over since their inception. Poverty rates in...… Read more
Congress keeps threatening to shut down over the budget, but there is at least one thing the two houses can agree on....… Read more
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) visited Heritage earlier this week for The Bloggers Briefing and stuck around to chat in our...… Read more
“We’re cutting our own throats here, I think,” Kim Murray, from the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, recently remarked...… Read more
What does it take to keep a small ruling elite in power, living a life of luxury, all while blackmailing the world into...… Read more
Senior Research Fellow, Northeast Asia