Ralph A. Cossa » ROK-U.S. Relations: Revitalizing the Alliance

by Ralph A. Cossa

The Feb. 25 inauguration of Lee Myung-bak as the Republic of Korea’s new president opens the door for a revitalization of the ROK-U.S. alliance, a relationship that has been severely tested and strained in recent years as a result of policy differences and more fundamental “vision” differences between Washington and Seoul. An increasingly pragmatic approach toward the Korean Peninsula on the part of Washington and the advent of a more conservative, pro-alliance government in Seoul makes improved relations more likely and perhaps even somewhat easier to achieve, but by no means assured. If the alliance relationship is to be truly revitalized, both sides need to take some decisive steps, sooner rather than later.

President-elect Lee has already said that he plans to place increased importance on alliance maintenance and that he understands the centrality of the alliance relationship to Korean Peninsula security. But what is missing, in both Seoul and Washington, has been a clear articulation of the continued rationale and vision for the alliance both today and after eventual North-South reconciliation or reunification. Such a vision existed, and was clearly articulated during the Kim Dae-jung and Clinton administrations, but has not really been spelled out since then.

The last time Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and George W. Bush held a summit meeting, they did not even issue a joint statement. The time before that, they issued a vague statement that focused more on multilateral cooperation than on the future relevance of the bilateral relationship. One would hope that President Lee, shortly after his election, would issue a broad vision statement about South Korea’s desired future role in Asia and in the world and how the U.S.-ROK alliance fits into this vision.

Kim Dae-jung used to argue publicly and persuasively that South Korea had to maintain good relations simultaneously with its four giant neighbors – China, Japan, Russia, and the United States – and that the best, perhaps the only way, that this could be accomplished was through the continued viability of the ROK-U.S. alliance relationship, which provided Seoul with the necessary security assurances to deal with its other three more immediate neighbors. The U.S., in effect, was the “outside balancer” that made Northeast Asia harmony possible. This was true in the near term, when faced with uncertainty regarding North Korea’s future direction and behavior; it would be equally, if not more true were North Korea to either disappear or become somehow incorporated into a greater Korean confederation or unified nation under the political, economic, and social system existing today in the South.

Does Lee Myung-bak see the future in similar terms? If so, a clear articulation of his vision is needed prior to any summit meeting with President Bush. This would then set the stage for a joint statement articulating a common vision for the alliance and its future role and relevance, one that would hopefully be quickly endorsed by U.S. presidential aspirants from both parties (all of whom have a strong record of supporting the alliance relationship).

President-elect Lee appears to have already reconsidered his earlier plan to dismantle the Unification Ministry and incorporate it into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This is both regrettable and fully understandable, for political (as opposed to geopolitical) reasons. But it was not the existence of the Unification Ministry that caused so many problems over the past five years, it was the tendency of its various ministers to continually make statements that undercut the Foreign Ministry’s many attempts to speak with one voice with Washington in dealing with North Korea.