Foreign Affairs Outlook for 2021

U.S. Domestic Issues and South Korea-U.S. Relations

Dr. WOO Jung-Yeop

Director of the Center for American Studies, The Sejong Institute

woo@sejong.org

English Abstract

This article predicts political affairs in the U.S. and South Korea-U.S. relations in 2021. President-elect Joe Biden’s stress on alliance is not just about respecting the allies’ opinion, but strongly implies that the U.S. would expect its allies to agree and follow the policy directions of the U.S. In this regard, what the Biden administration thinks important is a tripartite security cooperation among the U.S., South Korea, and Japan. Some foretell that the Biden administration’s North Korea policy approach might not be an approach for complete denuclearization. The U.S. and South Korea are likely to show variant priorities in international relations. This is because South Korea’s foreign policies center on the improvement in inter-Korean relations, while the U.S. focuses on hegemonic competition with China. The South Korean government, therefore, needs to mobilize its diplomatic capabilities to analyze ways to cope with the variant priorities and come up with appropriate measures in advance.