HONOLULU -- The U.S.-South Korea alliance is at a turning point. South Korea has become a modern, vibrant democracy and a dynamic economy with global reach. Despite the nuclear crisis with North Korea, inter-Korean reconciliation has taken root and South Korea feels confident enough to seek a more independent stance vis-a-vis its neighbors. This confidence has exposed a real divide in views in Washington and Seoul about China, North Korea and Japan.
At the very time the two societies have the capacities to be real partners based on shared democratic and free-market values, many wonder whether the glue that binds them has dissolved and whether their alliance will survive.
Mounting questions about the utility, relevance and survivability of the U.S.-South Korea alliance have stimulated the Roh and Bush administrations to launch two major initiatives -- U.S.-South Korea negotiations on a free-trade area and a strategic dialogue process. Together they provide a creative vision for modernizing and re-configuring the bilateral partnership. Such a grand vision will not succeed if the two countries fail to agree on fundamental questions about threats to national and regional security.
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