[학술논문] Inter-Korean Relations in 2025: The Lee Administration's Pragmatic Recalibration after Yoon

...inter-Korean diplomacy. The article demonstrates that while Lee pledged to pursue a pragmatic and de-escalatory approach toward North Korea, his administration remained structurally constrained by alliance modernization, North Korea's hardened doctrine, and heightened great-power competition. The review surveys domestic political developments, the changing dynamics of the US–ROK alliance, trilateral security...

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

South Korea-U.S. relations in 2025 continued to be influenced by the deepening conflict between China and the U.S. Xi Jinping's "New Era" policies drive inter-related military and economic threats to both South Korea and the U.S. Largely in reaction, Donald Trump has intensified his first-term effort both to confront China's threats and to use trade and other policies to re-industrialize the U.S. economy...

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

...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. In particular, the USA must soberly assess whether the current North Korean nuclear threat...

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

In the context of intensifying U.S.–China strategic competition in the Indo–Pacific, the security of the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait are inextricably linked. A simultaneous two-front crisis in these subregions would pose a grave threat to regional stability, as China and North Korea could coordinate to exploit vulnerabilities in the United States and allied postures—triggering a “strategic...

[학술논문] 中ㆍ美관계에 있어서의 북한 변수

...respective party will escalate the crisis to the level whereby military conflict will be inevitable. Hence, the paper seeks ways to prevent conflicts arising between the U.S. and China over North Korea’s collapse by making policy suggestions based on the finding and readings from the work of those who are supposedly to have some input into or influence over foreign policy decision making process in China.

[해외] Kim’s Dangerous Liaisons: Russia, China, and the Growing North Korea Threat

...diplomatic ties between the two countries have relieved some of the pressure that for decades has kept North Korea subordinate to China. Now, with more confidence in its conventional military and in a position to play two great-power patrons off each other, North Korea faces fewer constraints than ever before. And should Pyongyang choose aggression against its southern neighbor, the resulting war would...

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

..., North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal, and defense collaboration among Russia, China, and North Korea, there are growing questions about whether Asia needs its own version of NATO.” The proposal for an Asian NATO has gained fresh momentum with the advent of Donald Trump’s second presidency (hereafter Trump 2.0) and subsequent geopolitical developments in Europe and Asia. In the face of growing...

[국내] 이란의 비대칭 드론전: 한·미 동맹에 주는 핵심 교훈

...adversaries in the Indo-Pacific region—including North Korea, Russia, and China—are paying close attention.Increasingly, it is likely that emerging, disruptive technologies (EDTs), including future UAVs supported byartificial intelligence (AI) systems, will present new challenges for U.S. and allied preparedness againstasymmetric warfare in the Indo-Pacific region. To strengthen U.S.-ROK alliance readiness...

[해외] The Impact of the US National Security Strategy’s Blind Spot on North Korea

The latest US National Security Strategy (NSS) reflects a shift in how Washington directs its strategic attention. China remains at the center of the document, but the omission of any reference to North Korean denuclearization is particularly notable, especially since North Korea was treated as a central security concern in previous US doctrine, such as the 2017 NSS. The silence on this issue is not...

[해외] America Needs an Alliance Audit

...neighbors and harass NATO members. And North Korea now has nuclear weapons that can strike the mainland United States. Washington therefore needs to reassess its alliances and recalibrate them to suit these new realities. It should judge its partners on whether they strengthen U.S. competitiveness with regard to China and on the low likelihood that they could involve the United States in a war that does...