By Ling Shengli
Republic of Korea (ROK) Minister of National Defense Suh Wook spoke by phone with his counterpart Lloyd J. Austin, the new Secretary of Defense of the Biden administration, according to foreign media reports January 24. The two reiterated that the US-ROK alliance is ironclad, and the two defense departments will continue to maintain close cooperation. At present, the ROK government has clearly released a signal to improve the US-ROK relations in the face of the Biden administration. Whether the US-ROK alliance will develop is a matter of concern.
The US-ROK alliance has become an important support for the US in Northeast Asia after nearly 70 years of development. However, during the Trump administration, the US adopted a "transactionalism" attitude towards alliance relations. It treated security support to allies as commodities, which required allies to pay corresponding fees, and both tolerance and support for allies dropped. The Biden administration is different. In its inaugural speech, Biden clearly stated that it should improve relations with allies. The ROK hopes to continue to consolidate the alliance with the US and cooperate closely on the denuclearization and security of the Korean Peninsula. The US has stated that it will communicate more with the ROK on the peninsula nuclear issue.
The above situation shows that the US and the ROK have their own expectations for the alliance during the Biden administration. However, the development will still face multiple difficulties.
The first is how to promote the gradual resolution of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. The ROK government hopes that through its own central coordination, it can promote the warming of US-DPRK relations and thereby stabilize the situation on the peninsula. The ROK government hopes that it can continue to play the role of "coordinator" during the Biden administration. However, the Biden administration is facing the stalemate left over by the Trump administration on the peninsula nuclear issue. Thus, it isn't easy to make a breakthrough.
The second is the negotiation of the defense cost-sharing between the US and the ROK. The sharing of defense costs between the US and the ROK is an old issue among their alliance. Although the two countries have experienced such frictions many times in the past, the amount's changes were not too substantial, and they were eventually resolved. However, the previous asking price by the Trump administration was too high. The excessive increase in the cost of the US military in the ROK made it difficult for the country to accept. The two sides negotiated many times, but they failed to come up with a solution. This even affected the operation of the US military in South Korea. As the Biden administration took power, the problem of defense cost-sharing is expected to be resolved. After all, Biden promised not to "blackmail" South Korea by withdrawing US troops. The recent phone call between the two defense ministers is also intended to promote the continued development of the US-South Korea alliance, and the two sides do not want to delay such development due to the contradiction in defense cost-sharing.
The third is the uncertainties in multilateral cooperation between the US and the ROK. Compared with the Trump administration, the Biden administration is more active in multilateralism. ROK President Moon Jae-in recently expressed his hope to strengthen the US-ROK alliance through cooperation on global issues such as health, security, economy, and climate change. But as far as the Biden administration is concerned, domestic issues are imminent and will indeed occupy the priority agenda. There is still uncertainty about how much energy and how much the US can do in foreign policy, especially in global governance. In terms of multilateral cooperation, the interest relationships between allies are complicated, and it remains to be seen to what extent the cooperation between the US and the ROK can be implemented.
To sum up, as the Biden administration gradually takes its place, the US-ROK alliance will usher in a new phase. However, the focus of the Biden administration's initial governance will mainly be domestic issues, and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and restoring the economy are the top priorities. For the US-ROK alliance, related tasks are placed in order of difficulty. It is easier for them to resolve internal issues and increase multilateral cooperation. Still, it is more difficult to coordinate on such issues as the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.
(The author is Secretary-General of the Center for International Security Studies at China Foreign Affairs University.)
