Future of the ROK-US Alliance in the Context of Korean Unification

After the Korean War, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States signed a Mutual Defense Treaty on October 1, 1953. There were many conflicts and challenges between the ROK and the United States in keeping the relationship strong. Nevertheless, the ROK-US alliance has successfully defended South Korea from the volatile threat of North Korea and maintained stability and peace in Northeast Asia. After the historical North-South Summit talks in June 2000, Korean unification is more likely now than it has been at any other time since Korea's division. Once Korea is unified peacefully under South Korea's leadership, however, Korean unification will bring into question the necessity of the ROK-US alliance. In other words, the diluting of the strategic goals of the alliance, regional concerns toward the further strengthening of today's ROK- US alliance, and growing Korean national self-consciousness for self-defense and antagonism against foreign powers undoubtedly will pressure the Korea-US alliance to modify its role and nature into a more flexible and limited alliance. Given these situations, the most important means to compensate for a weakened former bilateral alliance will be a Northeast Asian multilateral security system in conjunction with the growing economic, political, and security interdependence throughout the region.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Future of the ROK-US Alliance in the Context of Korean Unification', published 2000 under ISBN 9781423532699 and ISBN 1423532694.