Special report on the Korean-American alliance
The latest information on the Korean-American alliance as South Korean President Park Geun-hye visits the United States.
![South Korean President Park Geun-hye must balance Seoul's alliance with Washington with being excluded from the TPP Pacific trade deal. (Associated Press)](https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/media/image/2015/10/12/10122015_korea8201_c0-366-3000-2114_s877x511.jpg?e861d294bfbabc4aebe580ba4e9ad4aaa8f538f9)
Obama to host Park Geun-hye as South Korea's growing ties to China threaten alliance
By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times
President Obama is expected to highlight this week's U.S. visit by South Korean President Park Geun-hye as an example of the rock-solid alliance between Washington and Seoul -- but a range of sticky issues will lurk in the backdrop behind Ms. Park's visit to the White House at week's end. Published October 12, 2015
Recent Commentary Columns
MATT SALMON: An Alliance that Extends to the Stars
The alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea has been one of the pillars guaranteeing peace, stability and prosperity in Northeast Asia for more than 60 years.
WILLIAM WON KYUN HWANG: National Unification Advisory Council welcomes President Park Geun-hye
National Unification Advisory Council-Washington Chapter welcomes Her Excellency Park Geun-hye, president of Korea, and wishes for a successful U.S.-Korea Summit.
KATRINA LANTOS: Korea-U.S. Friendship, Partnership and Alliance
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) warmly welcomes Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye to Washington, D.C., and commends Her Excellency's vision and efforts toward a peaceful, prosperous, democratic and unified Korean Peninsula.
JOSEPH DETRANI: Strategic Trends and Shifting Balances in Northeast Asia
The Intelligence and National Security Alliance established the Asia-Pacific Task Force, with Ambassador Bob Joseph as chairman, to examine the evolving U.S. strategy in the region and assess the implications for the national security and intelligence communities.
ED FEULNER: Nurturing a Crucial Alliance
South Korean President Park Geun-hye is in Washington this week as the third of President Obama's summit trifecta with Northeast Asian leaders. She has the opportunity to address growing regional security challenges and reassert an important Korean role on the world stage.
KONGDAN OH: Korea President Park Geun-ye: Then and Now
On a cold December day in 2012, Korea elected a new president. And not just another aging political leader, but a relatively youthful 60-year-old woman, Park Geun-hye, who became the country's 11th president. As a former citizen of South Korea who left the country over three decades ago to escape its male-dominated culture, I was filled with encouragement and pride.
DAN BURTON: Tough, Decisive and Hands-on 'Notebook Princess'
At the end of this past summer, I visited South Korea as part of a delegation of former U.S. congressmen and other leaders who have a strong interest in the security of the Northeast Asia region.
BILL GERTZ: Admiral: North Korea can hit U.S. with long-range nuclear missile
North Korea is capable of hitting the United States with a long-range nuclear missile, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command said this week.
ED ROYCE: A Historic Opportunity to Strengthen the Korean-American Partnership
Forged in the horrific destruction of the Korean War that began 65 years ago, the U.S.-Korea alliance has emerged strong, resolute, comprehensive and enduring. It has become a "Blood Alliance." More than 1.7 million Korean American constituents represent yet another bond between our countries, with Southern California having the largest Korean population outside the Korean Peninsula.
JUNGSIL LEE: The Future of the 'Comfort Women' Movement in Korea
To this day, religious and some Korean political leaders have withheld their support for comfort women, choosing not to take a stance on this issue. Although disappointed, I remain resolute in our mission. Now it has fallen upon me and our organization to outline the direction that the Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues should take.
YUMI HOGAN: Korea President Park: A Symbol of Hope
Growing up on a farm in Jeollanam-do province, I never thought I would have the opportunity to meet with the president of South Korea.
WILLIAM WON KYUN HWANG: Freedom: The Common Glue Between America and Korea
Freedom is the signature spirit of the United States and of South Korea. We should be humble, never forgetting that our brothers and sisters in North Korea are starving, in pain, and have no human rights. We must redouble our efforts to bring about a reunion among the tens of thousands of families separated between North and South Korea. We must do this before more of those separated by the war pass away.
SUE MI TERRY: U.S. a Midwife to Peninsula Unification
North Korea has been one of the most vexing and persistent problems in U.S. foreign policy since World War II, and it is certain to be a major topic of discussion this week during South Korean President Park Geun-hye's meeting with President Obama.
CHARLES RANGEL: Korea and the United States: Our Great Legacy
Little did I know in 1950, when I went to Korea for the first time as a combat infantryman, that I would be welcoming the distinguished South Korean President Park Geun-hye during her visit to our nation's capital to confer with our president concerning the global community and the U.S.-Korea alliance.
The search for an effective U.S. strategy on North Korea
Senators on Oct. 7 convened a hearing titled "Assessing the North Korea Threat and U.S. Policy: Strategic Patience or Effective Deterrence?" Here are excerpts from four leaders who offered testimony that day.
EUN-SUK SEO: Korean-Americans ready for innovation alliance
The historic visit of Park Geun-hye, president of the Republic of South Korea, to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is not surprising considering her plan to move the country toward a "creative economy." The words "exploration" and "innovation" could not be excluded from the many words that describe NASA because of its sense of creativeness and daring boldness. NASA is also well known for its spinoff technologies.
BRUCE E. BECHTOL: The North Korean Military Threat
Following North Korea's most recent "shows of force" -- including a parade that showed off a swath of new or upgraded weapons systems and a provocation along the DMZ that left two South Korean soldiers badly maimed.
JAY S. KIM: Innovation and entrepreneurship: A new horizon for the U.S.-Korea alliance
The newest chapter of the 70-year alliance between Korea and the U.S. is emerging as the two nations begin to collaborate in the area of technological innovations and entrepreneurship.
ALEXANDRE MANSOUROV: The Han unbound: Korea goes global
Recent international headlines highlight the spectacular success of Korea's globalization campaign better than any academic study: "K-Pop madness sweeps Vietnam," "Dresden opens Korean Plaza," "Korean Online Comics Go Global," "16 new King Sejong Institute branches to be built in four continents," "Bibimpab, Kimchi await you in Milan," "Saemaul Undong becomes a global development model," "Korea tops Global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Development Index."
DAVID S. MAXWELL: The Korea-U.S. alliance: Ready for the next chapter?
A review of the successes shows how this blood alliance allowed the ROK to first survive the ruthless attack from the communist North and, in the aftermath, to rebuild a nation from the ashes of the war. The "Miracle on the Han" has resulted in the rise of the Republic of Korea as a major middle power that has developed a military that can deter and defend against the enemy to the north and contributes to global security from leading U.N. peacekeeping missions, as in East Timor, to successful counterterrorism and counterpiracy operations off the Horn of Africa and major military contributions in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.
CHRISTOPHER R. HILL: North Korea's endgame
Last August, negotiators from the two Koreas resolved yet another crisis provoked by the North, in which South Korea's use of loudspeakers to broadcast messages across the Demilitarized Zone spurred threats of war from the North. That was welcome news for the region and the world.
JOHN J. HAMRE: Redefining Korea as a global leader
South Korean President Park Geun-hye returns to Washington after proving her mettle this summer in a tense standoff with North Korea. North Korean agents planted land mines in a long-standing path patrolled by South Korean soldiers, setting off another round of escalating tension between North and South. South Korea stood firm, and North Korea blinked.
LORETTA SANCHEZ: Korea: A remarkable economic transformation and U.S. policy success
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. As Korea has transformed itself in six decades from a war-torn basket economy into the 13th largest economy in the world, it represents one of America's greatest foreign policy success stories in the post-WWII era.