The U.S.-South Korean alliance faces significant challenges caused by transitions in both countries, including political and demographic change in South Korea and fast-paced adjustments to America's national security strategy in the face of a new global and regional strategic landscape. These are stressful circumstances, but they also present opportunities for improving alliance relations. Careful planning and effective communication at various levels (including the public level) is needed to minimize the stress and to capitalize on the opportunities. The study examines the complex dynamics...

The unprecedented series of six-party talks to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear activities heralded a new and indelibly regional dynamic in Northeast Asia. Even if the process does not achieve all its objectives, the multilateral legacy that it leaves behind should not be squandered. Policy makers need to coordinate regional efforts, not only on the deal-making process regarding North Korea's nuclear programs, but also on back-end issues relating to how the logistical and technical process of dismantling North Korean weapons of mass destruction (WMD) could actually unfold and...

North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon in October 2006, after more than three years of sporadic multilateral diplomacy and negotiations aimed at forestalling its emergence as a new nuclear state in Northeast Asia. Convincing North Korea it would be better off without such weapons and related programs is fraught with challenges, but the situation has mobilized North Korea's neighbors and the United States to begin to create a regional security and economic framework that can reconcile their conflicting priorities and threat perceptions.

A nuclear North Korea is now a catalyst...