[학술논문] South Korea-United States Relations in 2025: Lee Adjusts to Trump as the U.S.-China Conflict Deepens

...S. support for Korea enriching and reprocessing civilian nuclear fuel and building nuclear attack submarines. Lee supported Trump's preferences on trilateral relations with Japan, while Trump supported Lee's desire to re-engage with North Korea. The allies also reaffirmed longstanding commitments such as maintaining U.S. extended deterrence and the U.S. troop presence in Korea. Overall, in 2025, the...

[학술논문] Lessons from Russia's Nuclear Forward‐Deployment to Belarus for the USA and South Korea

Following Belarus's request, Russia deployed its nuclear weapons to Belarus within one or two years, whereas the USA has not even engaged in discussions on a similar option for South Korea, which has faced an existential nuclear threat from North Korea. This article seeks to extract key insights from Belarus's experience and propose corresponding policy implications for the US–South Korea alliance...

[학술논문] Strategy Optimization of Peripheral Nuclear States: Hybrid Modality Deterrence in Confronting Regional and Extra-Regional Threats

Peripheral nuclear states face distinct strategic and technological constraints when compared to the established nuclear powers. North Korea illustrates how such states can simultaneously adopt different nuclear postures towards distinct adversaries, calibrated to their respective threat profiles, through what may be described as a Hybrid Modality Deterrence model. Within this model, two posture types...

[학술논문] ROK–U.S.–Japan “Operational” Security Cooperation for Responding to a Two-Front Crisis

...threat to regional stability, as China and North Korea could coordinate to exploit vulnerabilities in the United States and allied postures—triggering a “strategic balloon effect” that undermines deterrence. However, the current framework for trilateral security cooperation among the Republic of Korea (ROK), the United States, and Japan lacks both a pre-coordinated response mechanism and clear operational...

[학술논문] ROK-U.S. Cooperation in Preparation for Hostile Actions by North Korea in Possession of Nuclear Weapons

...deterrence for South Korea appears to have many limitations. In fact, as demonstrated in the sinking of the ROK naval frigate Cheonan incident, North Korea, with its nuclear capability intact, now threatens SouthKorean security more openly. Accordingly, measures to increase the credibility of America’s extended deterrence become ever more imperative such that it will act as a stronger deterrence against...

[해외] From deadlock to dialogue on the Korean Peninsula: It is time to revisit the idea of North East Asian regional security talks

...North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have indicated openness to resuming engagement over the past year, the US objective of denuclearization is deeply at odds with North Korea’s heavy reliance on nuclear deterrence. Hopes for renewed diplomacy remain fragile against the backdrop of the USA’s inconsistent approach the last time Kim engaged with Trump, when a mutual commitment to confidence building in 2018...

[국내] Asian NATO Versus Pragmatic Multi-Alignment: Assessing Middle-Power Realignment Pathways in Trump 2.0

...intensifying U.S.-China rivalry, nearly all U.S. allies across the Indo-Pacific and Europe have been reassessing their reliance on Washington’s security guarantee, rethinking their own defense and deterrence capabilities, and recalibrating their alignment positions vis-à-vis one another. Against this backdrop, some have advocated the need for like-minded U.S. allies to forge a NATO-like pact in Asia...

[해외] How to Avoid an Accidental Nuclear War with North Korea

What Kim Jong Un says at the current Ninth Party Congress meeting will reveal whether there is an opening for nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration. Despite President Trump's repeated offers to meet with North Korea's leader Chairman Kim Jong Un during his recent trip to Asia, there was no response. Kim's appearance with Xi Jingpin and Vladimir Putin at China's recent military parade...

[국내] 한·미 핵 협력의 미래: 격변하는 시기 속 정책 방향 탐색

...is neverthelessa framework on nuclear policy matters that may prove useful to those within the U.S. government and in theSouth Korean government seek to find avenues for progress and cooperation. In broad terms, the nuclear policy agenda in thebilateral relationship can be divided into threepillars. The first of these concerns security andthe nuclear extended deterrence relationship,the backbone of...

[해외] The Iran war risks triggering a new wave of nuclear proliferation

... seems to be shifting towards support for developing domestic nuclear capabilities, as the lessons of the Cold War and the devastating consequences of nuclear weapons fade from living memory. This comes amid rising doubts over Washington’s ability to uphold its extended deterrence and security commitments to allies. In particular, the US’s reported redeployment of part of its THAAD missile defence...