The promise of dramatic strategic change on the Korean Peninsula poses a wide array of short- and long-term challenges as well as opportunities for the U.S.-Japan alliance. For the foreseeable future, the uneasy military stalemate between the two Koreas and the halting progress toward inter-Korean reconciliation will continue to stress the security partnership in unpredictable ways. Beyond the immediate horizon, the reconciliation process and the prospect of eventual reunification on the peninsula could produce intense pressures that severely shake the foundations of the five-decade-old...

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...

As the United States and its allies increasingly turn their focus to the global war on terrorism and on stanching WMD proliferation, strategic interest has risen significantly in parts of the so-called -new Europe- close to areas of potential terrorist and proliferation activities (such as Central Asia and the Middle East). This, in turn, highlights the importance of new and potential NATO members in Southeastern Europe, who can play a more important role both as contributors to future coalition operations and as base areas closer to U.S. and NATO operations. The seven states examined in this...

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...

In cooperation with the Kokkalis Foundation, this volume is the fourth in the IFPA-Kokkalis Series on Southeast European Policy. The book explores Bulgaria's progress in the realms of economic and political reform, as well as its overall strategic and foreign policy priorities, within the context of its desires to contribute as a new NATO member, to join the European Union, and to play a leading role within and beyond Southeast Europe. Contributors include Bulgaria's former president, its deputy prime minister, and its deputy foreign minister and distinguished experts from Europe and the...

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...