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Results and Challenges of the Korea-U.S. Summit
Lee Daewoo
(delee@sejong.org)
Director of the Department of Security Strategy Studies,
The Sejong Institute
English Abstract
The Korea-U.S. summit, which was held in Seoul on May 21, as shown in the lengthy joint statement, resulted in many agreements between the Republic of Korea and the U.S. First of all, the leaders of the two countries shared their understanding of the threat of North Korea, reaffirmed the commitment to completely denuclearize North Korea, and agreed that strong deterrence against North Korea is needed to secure joint security. Also, they agreed to restart the ROK-U.S. Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) to expand and strengthen joint drills, which are the core of the ROK-U.S. joint defense posture, and coordinate the dispatch of U.S. strategic assets to Korea if necessary. Meanwhile, the Korea-U.S. security alliance has grown into an economic and technological alliance, which has emerged as a comprehensive strategic alliance in name and reality. In particular, it has formalized bilateral cooperation for the development of next-generation nuclear power plant technologies such as new nuclear reactors and small modular reactors (SMR). However, the empowerment of the Korea-U.S. alliance will increase China's pressure on South Korea, improving Korea-Japan relations has emerged as an important task for enhancing the Korea-U.S. alliance, and the possibility of weakening the autonomy of the semiconductor industry, one of the core assets of Korean security, has been raised. Lastly, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's "bold plan" for denuclearization of North Korea should be embodied as a follow-up to the summit.