The United States must build alliances throughout Asia to ensure our stability for the next century. The Country needs to strength their relationships with India, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan and especially South Korea. South Korea is the world’s 12th-largest economic power and one of America’s strongest allies for the last 60 years. Moreover, South Korea has the largest and important West’s global supply chain for technology, transportation and telecommunications, also they have been an essential key of democracy housing of the US military bases in Asia.
Meanwhile political affairs between the US and South Korea gain importance in nowadays, Trump’s government has managed this affair in hard ways in 2019 Trump required from South Korea to paid $4.7 billion per year to station US military forces in the Korean Peninsula, despite of allies must pay for fair share in defense is unfair to demanded such high rates; it has to be based on rationale and data. If the South Koreans cannot trust on reasonable and predictable US foreign policy maybe they will cut off relationship with Washington and to seek other alliances.
The United States needs to be aware South Korea is an essential partner for dealing with North Korea and China, the US has to keep going with clear and fair foreign policy that allies can understand and count on, besides, US needs to promote the policies that Democratic and Republican secretaries of state have built over decades.
Kevinn,
This will be a short response because I am still grading papers (in my other course). You are certainly correct about the importance of the US-Republic of Korea relationship–militarily, politically, and economically. Unfortunately, the current president never seemed to understand this–perhaps, in part, because he does not know history. There is great hope, however, that if we have a new president next year, the damage that has been done to the relationship can be repaired.
–Professor Wallerstein