OPINION:
This week, President Biden will welcome South Korea’s President, Yoon Suk-yeol, to the White House, where they will celebrate a security partnership that has endured for 70 years. This occasion gives us the opportunity to reflect on the unique, reciprocal, and special relationship our nations share. The U.S.-South Korea partnership is more important than ever as we face growing threats to our prosperity and security from communist China and North Korea.
We forged this bond through shared adversity and struggle. In June 1950, the North Korean military rolled across the 38th parallel in Soviet-made tanks and under Soviet air cover, smashing South Korea’s defenses. American troops rushed to South Korea’s defense, but they too were pushed back by a more numerous and better prepared enemy. At Pusan, near the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, North Korean armies surrounded American and South Korean forces. For a dark moment, it seemed the communists would win the first major conflict of the Cold War in a rout.
Then the legendary General Douglas McArthur launched one of the most daring and brilliant amphibious landings in history. He successfully landed tens of thousands of troops deep behind enemy lines on the shores of Inchon, throwing the communists into chaos and disarray. American and South Korean forces pushed back the enemy toward the banks of the Yalu. The reunification of the Korea seemed at hand, when hundreds of thousands of Chairman Mao’s soldiers stormed across the Chinese border, forcing our soldiers back below the 38th parallel.
For the next two years, American and South Korean service members endured brutal combat against Chinese and North Korean forces. It wasn’t until President Eisenhower threatened nuclear war that the communists came to the table and agreed to an armistice.
America came to South Korea’s aid in its moment of need, and South Korea returned the favor a decade later. When American soldiers once again deployed to fight Chinese-backed communists, this time in Vietnam, South Korea sent more than 300,000 soldiers to fight in that “noble cause,” as Reagan called it. In so doing, South Korea demonstrated that it was much more than a “fair weather” friend.
Our shared sacrifices in war laid the foundation for a strong partnership in peace. Over the decades, we have built a prosperous trade relationship that has enriched both countries. And in 1987, President Reagan memorably helped midwife South Korea’s democracy, urging its strongman, Chun Doo-hwan, to step down amid pro-democracy protests and offering a face-saving visit to the White House so that his dictatorship could end without humiliation.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Celebrating 70 Years: The United States & South Korea Alliance
Since the start of our partnership, South Korea has risen from poverty to prosperity and from dictatorship to democracy. It is now a strong, vibrant, and secure nation—quite a contrast with the regime to its north, whose subjects suffer in squalor, forced to worship the cult of Kim.
The stark difference between South Korea and North Korea shows the difference between capitalism and communism. But it’s also a result of foreign policy. At the crossroads, South Korea chose America, while North Korea chose China. The results are so stark because America seeks partners, while China seeks puppets.
Although economically and morally inferior, the China-North Korea alliance is still dangerous—and growing more dangerous by the day. North Korea has resumed ballistic missile testing and has threatened to detonate another nuclear weapon, as a show of strength. Meanwhile, China is expanding its conventional and nuclear arsenals at an unprecedented pace and appears to be preparing for an invasion of Taiwan. If we are to defend ourselves and prevent another devastating war, the United States and South Korea must strengthen our partnership economically, diplomatically, and militarily.
We must demonstrate that if China and North Korea seek war, we will win and they will lose. To this end, we must expand and improve our militaries, build up our munition stockpiles, and expand joint military exercises. And we must integrate our bilateral alliance with other partnerships in the region. President Yoon demonstrated bold statesmanship with his visit to Tokyo last month, and both sides are resuming their intelligence sharing agreement. Further efforts to improve relationships within and across alliances are essential.
We must also strengthen our commercial ties. South Korea is already America’s sixth-largest trading partner. In recent years, American and South Korean firms have entered joint ventures to accelerate the development of battery and semiconductor technology. Samsung alone has pledged nearly $200 billion dollars to build as many as 11 advanced chip plants in Texas. These investments could lead to a technology revolution that makes our peoples more prosperous and our nations more secure. Innovation aside, these investments are crucial to making our countries more resilient to outside disruption and less dependent on China, whose technology theft and anti-competitive practices hurt our companies every day.
For seven decades, our two nations have traded together, fought together, and succeeded together. Together we have shown the world how civilized nations ought to interact and together we have made each other stronger. And it is only together that we can ensure that the next seventy years are as prosperous as the last.
• U.S. Senator Tom Cotton serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee for Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism on the Judiciary Committee and the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee for Air Land Power on the Armed Services Committee. The Arkansas Republican is also a member of the Intelligence Committee. A graduate of Harvard Law School and former clerk with the U.S. Court of Appeals, he left the law to serve in the United States Army as an Infantry Officer on two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. His military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Ranger Tab.
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