Foreign Affairs Outlook for 2022​

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Prospect for ROK-U.S. relations in 2022 

Woo Jung-Yeop

(woo@sejong.org)

Research Fellow, 

The Sejong Institute

English Abstract

This Current Issues and Policies looks at three factors to prospect Korea-U.S. relations in 2022: intensifying U.S.-China competition, Korea's presidential election, and the U.S. midterm election. First of all, the U.S. will pressure its allies to pursue various policies to control China in the military and economic sectors. In addition, the U.S. is unlikely to take a particular position without guaranteeing that Korea's presidential election results will benefit the U.S. Finally, in the U.S. midterm elections, pro-union policies will be the main issue, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, who advocates hard-line populist policies, is likely to be elected. Therefore, allies are likely to be asked to pursue similar policies. Korea-U.S. relations will remain largely unchanged in 2022, but the intensifying U.S.-China competition will define the relations.

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