With the Biden administration considering a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, competition between the US and China has now reached a plane beyond the realms of trade, technology, and military. Given that the UK is also slated to do the same, middle power countries like Korea are stuck in a precarious position. We have asked advice from Andrew Yeo (professor at The Catholic University of America), John Delury (professor at Yonsei University's Graduate School of International Studies), and Kuyeon Chung (professor at Kangwon University) on what Korea should do in this specific case as well as in the broader context of deepening US-China competition.

The Biden administration will make public its nuclear policy with its forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). This time, as the possible adoption of "no first use" (NFU) and "sole purpose" has been raised, allies such as the UK and Japan have expressed concern and opposition. What does that mean to the U.S. extended deterrence and what implications will there be for the allies? Bong Jun Ko (professor at Chungnam National University), Jungseop Kim (senior research fellow at the Sejong Institue), and Joshua Pollack (editor of the Nonproliferation Review at Middlebury Institute) offer their views.

At the 76th Session of the General Assembly in New York on October 27th, DPRK’s ambassador to the United Nations denounced American hypocrisy and demanded the suspension of US military exercises on the Korean peninsula. It is now up to the Republic of Korea to assess the necessity of joint exercises in ensuring that the transfer of OPCON to the South Korean military goes smoothly and to weigh the validity of suspending or resuming drills. On this topic, we have invited Su Seok Lee (research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy), Horyoung Lee (senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses), and Bruce W. Bennett (adjunct researcher at the RAND Corporation).

U.S. President Joe Biden has recently stated the American willingness to defend Taiwan if China attacked, in an apparent departure from a long-held U.S. foreign policy position. Regarding this public statement, China has yet to respond, while Taiwan has chosen to stay neutral, saying it would neither give in to pressure nor "rashly advance" when it gets support. Bo Ram Kwon (associate research fellow at the KIDA), Jong-dae Kim, and Chung-min Tsai (professor at the National Chengchi University) will share their views on possibly rising tensions and implications for South Korea.