The past year has introduced both expanded opportunities and unprecedented volatilities to the U.S.-South Korea relationship. From nuclear submarine cooperation and a new investment agreement to tariff-related uncertainties and immigration-related tensions, the state of the partnership between the United States and Korea has important implications for regional and global security, economic, and political dynamics. What has changed, what has held, and what does the next year demand of both governments?

Two former U.S. ambassadors to Korea take stock. Ambassadors Philip Goldberg (2022–2025) and Kathleen Stephens (2008–2011) join KEI President and CEO Scott Snyder to assess where the alliance stands as President Donald Trump faces a crucial midterm election and his Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung wraps up his first year in office.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

The multilateral free trade system is weakening, the United States is turning inward through discretionary tariffs and industrial policy, and major economies are racing toward security- and resilience-driven production. For South Korea—a leading global trader with a small domestic market—the old playbook of export expansion alone no longer holds, former Minister for Trade Taeho Bark argues.

On May 27, 2026, the Korea Economic Institute of America hosted Bark to discuss these and other topics. He lays out a new external economic development strategy for Korea in which exports and outward foreign direct investment are not substitutes but complements: with intermediate goods now exceeding 70 percent of Korean exports, and overseas investment by Korean firms increasingly pulls demand for the high-value-added materials, components, and equipment that Korea supplies.

His prescription positions Korea as a global hub for advanced intermediate goods, a core region for future-oriented research and development, and a stronger competitive base for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Joining him is Jeffrey Schott, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, as discussant. Schott specializes in international trade policy and economic sanctions, work informed by his years as a U.S. Treasury official and his service on the U.S. delegation that negotiated the GATT Subsidies Code during the Tokyo Round. He is the author or editor of numerous books on trade.

Taeho Bark served as Minister for Trade of the Republic of Korea from 2011 to 2013 and was Korea’s candidate for Director-General of the World Trade Organization in 2013. He is President of the Seoul Forum for International Affairs and Professor Emeritus at the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University, where he previously served as professor and dean.

Bark’s research will be featured in the upcoming edition of Korea Policy, KEI's flagship journal.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz has severely disrupted global energy access. Northeast Asian countries, including South Korea, rely on maritime imports of crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet their demand, prompting emergency tapping of strategic reserves, limits on the export of petroleum products, and an interim recalibration toward alternative sources such as nuclear power and coal.

An examination of the Iran war and its associated impact on global energy trade raises prominent questions for Korea and Northeast Asia watchers, including:

• How much of Korea’s energy comes from the Middle East?

• What will be the impact of the Iran war on energy prices and supply chains in both the short and long term?

• How are Seoul and other energy-import-dependent governments adjusting their strategies to mitigate their impacts?

Join KEI to discuss the main energy considerations for Korea in the wake of the Middle East crisis and what the global landscape for these resources will look like heading forward.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

The Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI) and the Korean American Institute (KAI) co-hosted Washington Policy Briefings on May 14, 2026. This day-long program examined the policy issues shaping the U.S.-Korea relationship and the Korean American community.

This first session focused on the political and security dimensions of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, including extended deterrence, North Korea, trilateral coordination with Japan, and the alliance's evolving role under the Trump administration.

Speakers:

Victor Cha, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Troy Stangarone, KEI

Andrew Yeo, Brookings Institution

Moderated by MJ Lee, CNN

Learn more about KEI's work on U.S.-Korea relations at keia.org. Check out KAI and learn how to get involved at ka.institute.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

The Korea Economic Institute of America and the Korean American Institute convened the second panel of the Washington Policy Briefings on May 14, 2026, examining how U.S. tax, tariff, trade, and immigration policy shape Korean American households, businesses, and the broader U.S.-Korea economic relationship.

The Washington Policy Briefings are a joint KEI–KAI initiative to inform the Korean American community on the federal policy debates that most directly affect them and to promote civic engagement.

Speakers:

Sang H. Lee, Council President of the Borough of Palisades Park, NJ

Martin Kim, Advancing Justice | AAJC

Harold Kim, KPMG LLP

Hyun Jung "Jessie" Je, KEI

Moderated by Nils Wollesen Osterberg, KEI

Learn more about KEI's work on U.S.-Korea relations at keia.org. Check out KAI and learn how to get involved at ka.institute.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

The November 2025 U.S.-South Korea Joint Fact Sheet opened the door to renewed discussions on South Korea's civil uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing and closer strategic alignment on cyberspace policies and cooperation, expanding the traditional areas of alliance cooperation to encompass civil nuclear energy and cyberspace.

The Lee Jae Myung administration plans to construct additional reactors at home and abroad, and its forthcoming cybersecurity strategy is expected to reaffirm the country's ambitions as an "AI powerhouse" in the cyber domain and tighten regulations on the private sector. Potential misalignment on scope and policy direction risks slowing momentum and creating new points of contention.

Join KEI for a discussion on opportunities and challenges facing growing nuclear and cyber cooperation between the United States and South Korea. The research presented here will appear in the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of Korea Policy, KEI's flagship academic journal.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

The ideology sustaining the Kim dynasty did not emerge from a vacuum. It was shaped, in part, by American missionaries who built a Christian following in Pyongyang in the late nineteenth century. That is the argument at the heart of Korean Messiah, and it reframes how Americans should think about their relationship with the Korean Peninsula and the Kim regime.

Join the Korea Economic Institute of America and the Atlantic Council for a conversation with China bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal Jonathan Cheng on his landmark new book, Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea's Personality Cult.

Cheng traces the surprising American origins of the Kim dynasty's personality cult and asks what understanding those origins can tell us about the nature of the regime Washington and Seoul face today.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

Join KEI for a conversation with Bruce Bechtol, author of Rogue Allies: The Strategic Partnership between Iran and North Korea, on the security, economic, and strategic implications of North Korea-Iran relations and what Washington and Seoul should do about it.

Dr. Bechtol argues that Iran is North Korea's most important Middle Eastern partner. The two have maintained a strategic relationship for decades, forged on mutual animosity toward the United States and sustained largely through military and weapons sales.

As both regimes deepen their ties to Russia and China, that partnership is introducing new dimensions to an already dangerous proliferation threat to U.S. allies and partners in both the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

U.S.–South Korea nuclear cooperation is moving from long-term ambition into active policy discussion following the November 2025 Joint Fact Sheet.

But what will it take to turn commitment into real capability, given legal, industrial, and political constraints?

Join KEI on April 28 at 10:00 a.m. ET for a discussion on defense-industrial cooperation and nuclear-powered attack submarines in the U.S.–ROK alliance.

Featuring insights from former Minister of Defense Acquisition Program Administration Eunho Kang and moderated by KEI’s Ellen Kim.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

In October 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his approval for South Korea to build a nuclear-powered attack submarine in the United States. But no progress has been made on the issue since then.

In this virtual event for KEI’s upcoming Korea Policy journal, KEI Senior Fellow and Director of Academic Programs Ellen Kim hosts Korea Institute for Defense Analyses’ Jihoon Yu to assess where U.S.-South Korea nuclear submarine cooperation stands after the May 11 meeting between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-back.

Jihoon Yu is Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. He served twenty-seven years in the South Korean Navy as a submarine officer and strategic planner, was a member of the Navy's task force on the CVX light aircraft carrier, and is the principal author of "Vision 2045." He holds an MA in national security affairs from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and a PhD in political science from Syracuse University.

Read more in the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of Korea Policy, KEI's flagship journal, which will be released in June.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]

Alliance modernization has moved fast. The publication of the U.S. National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy, combined with the ongoing war in Iran, has transformed what was once an abstract policy concept into an urgent operational reality, generating significant challenges and real opportunities for Washington and Seoul.

Can the two sides structure that conversation before political momentum outpaces institutional preparation? Dr. In-yo Seol of Korea National Defense University argues they can, and that alliance modernization need not mean a contraction of the U.S. commitment to South Korean security. Rather, it can be understood as a redistribution of roles built on converging military interests—a foundation more durable than the transactional logic of burden-sharing alone.

Join KEI for a discussion with Dr. Seol on the strategic logic underlying alliance modernization and its implications for both countries. His analysis appears in the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of Korea Policy, KEI’s flagship journal.

[This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.]