On May 21, 2022, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden held a summit meeting in Seoul to discuss the future of the ROK-U.S. alliance. We have asked experts from both countries to share their views on the summit’s implications for Korea.

With President Yoon Suk Yeol officially taking office, all eyes are on how his administration will shape the future of South Korean foreign policy. We have asked several prominent domestic and international figures to share their analyses and predictions on the prospects and challenges the Yoon administration will face over the next five years.

During World War II, the Meiji government exploited hundreds of forced laborers and prisoners of war — many of whom were Korean — to operate the Sado Island Gold Mines. Despite this deplorable history, the Japanese government has recently nominated the mines for UNESCO World Heritage status. In response, the Korean government has expressed its deep regrets and has called for an immediate retraction. On this topic, we have asked Alexis Dudden (professor at the University of Connecticut), David Palmer (professor at the University of Melbourne), and Jaeheon Choi (professor at Konkuk University) to share their views on what this move implies for future relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

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.