President Park proved to be the ally against North Korea that the U.S. could most appreciate. She held steadfast in a hard stance against the R.O.K.’s neighbors to the north, imposing harsher sanctions than her predecessors, and the Chinese government was angered when South Korea reached an agreement with the U.S. to deploy an advanced, American missile defense system quite literally aimed to keep North Korea in check.
Now, South Korea’s economy is transitioning from flow to ebb, and North Korea is as much a threat as ever. U.S.-R.O.K. relations are null at best as the Trump Administration has had no time thus far to deal with the Park Administration. However, State Department spokesman Mark Toner has publicly commented already, “The U.S.-R.O.K. alliance will continue to be a linchpin of regional stability and security, and we will continue to meet our alliance commitments, especially with respect to defending against the threat from North Korea.”
To some extent, this establishes the American stance while attempting to preempt what is now a greater likelihood that, due to Park’s unpopularity, the coming election may be won by a friend of China, especially without the lure of multilateral negotiations via the Trans-Pacific Partnership in which the Park Administration had expressed interest for the sake of shoring up agriculture and vehicle manufacturing with other TPP member nations.
Originally posted 2017-03-13 13:51:16.
