THE DYNAMICS OF U.S. - ROK ALLIANCE

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Background

The involvement of the United States in U.S. - ROK alliance has been resulting such of dynamic tension in the relationship of South Korea (ROK) and North Korea (DPRK). It shall be ackwoledged that the alliance which was made by U.S. is one of many reflections of effort in spreading their hegemony over the continent of Asia. Coming up into such understanding, it will put us in no wonder if the coalition between U.S. and South Korea could possibly invite the other surrounding party -who is not aligned with U.S.- to feel the 'insecurity' (yet it is probably interpreted as threat), as the existence of U.S. - ROK alliance is advancing themselves in certain cooperations.

The U.S. - ROK is a mutual defense treaty which was signed in October 1953 under the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Syngman Rhee. The main concern of this treaty was first to make sure the South Korea's national security as it was established right two months after the end of the korean civil war. The alliance appears very important for both U.S. and South Korea. For U.S., securing its position in South Korea is so much helping them in positioning the U.S. continental base which will probably be managed to prevent the potential threat from China and Russia. In the other words, it has helped U.S. in managing its geo-strategic position (Jung-Ho Bae, 2009).

Moreover, South Korea also surely appears as an important trading partner for the U.S. as it is showing very significant value in terms of gross national income which successfully touches 35 times larger than the North Korea's and 240 times greater in the trade volume. The other thing is, South Korea is also a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (abbreviated as 'OECD') since 1996, popularly known as a group of economically successful nations. Not to mention that now South Korea is the seventh largest trading partner of the U.S. 

However, the mutual benefits that are gained by both U.S. and South Korea need to face the up and down phase as it's clashing with some of principles held by the surrounding opposistion state such as North Korea in which it leads up to several tangible disputes gestures. Therefore, this article will attempt to focus on explaining the dynamics that occurs within the existence of U.S. - ROK alliance in the Korean Peninsula.

Dynamics of U.S. - ROK alliance

Soon after Rhee's administration was over, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun came into administration with different foreign policy practice in which it went to be more Pan-Koreanism. This perspective approaches the idea to reconcile the South and North Korea. It was signaled by the instruction of president Roh to relinquish U.S. operational control over South Korea.

This policy seemingly appeared to the U.S. as an obstacle. Apparently, political pivot must be done by the U.S. under George W. Bush's administration by implementing the "strategic flexibility" policy, a policy which was prepared to respond to conflicts anywhere they are needed, it did not limit the geographical scope, but necessarily for all over the world.

Long story short, in February 2008, Lee Myung-bak, a leader of the opposition party came into the administration with a more pragmatic foreign policy. This pragmatic policy was translated as the confrontational gesture toward North Korea and the return of U.S. - ROK alliance as Lee was also committed to repair the previous flaws and weaknesses of the alliance's framework. As the President Lee implemented such policy, North Korean press had a counter-productive coverage about him that he was a Korean traitor (Kwang Sub Kwak, 2006).

The dynamics does not stop there, the dispute actually continues up until the present day. In the year of 2008, North Korea launched its nuclear test, satellite, sinking the Cheonan Warship, and pointed guilty for the Yeonpyeong island bombardment. There was no definitive answer of why such action was done by the North Korea, but looking into it barely, it coud probably be the form of confrontation that was tried to show by the North Korea towards the South Korea, in the sense of U.S. - ROK alliance. 

There are actually some theories which explain why North Korea acts very confrontatively on the advance movement of South Korea under the framework of U.S. - ROK alliance. First, the exercise of U.S. - ROK alliance highlights the vulneralbities of North Korea in term of military arms race. Second, the military exercise is also giving impact toward the psychological pressure as the military of South Korea -under the support of U.S.- has been set in the highest level of alert. Third, the support of power that is gained by South Korea also creates a tangible economic disparity, in which it will be related to the readiness and strength of the North Korea itself (Abramowitz, 2001).

Conclusion 

It cannot be denied, the presence of U.S. in South Korea through U.S. - ROK partnership has somehow made the tension between South Korea and North Korea comes into an escalating tension. The tension which allegedly derives from the North Korea's anxiety on the massive development of South Korea has also led them to launch several confrontation act in order to press down the on going U.S. - ROK alliance.

References

Abramowitz, Morton. (2001). Testing North Korea : The Next Stage in U.S. and ROK Policy. United States : Council on Foreign Relations. 

Jung-Ho Bae. (2009). The U.S. - ROK Alliance in the 21st Century. Korea : Korea Institute for National Unification.

Kwang Sub Kwak. (2006). THE US-ROK ALLIANCE, 1953 - 2004: ALLIANCE INSTITIONALIZATION. United States : ProQuest Information and Learning Company.



Also See :

THE INTEREST OF NORTH KOREA IN US-ROK ALLIANCE (BY. MEINAR)

THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE U.S. IN NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA RELATIONSHIP (BY. HIKMALINDA)

STRATEGIC PATIENCE OF US TOWARDS NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT (BY. LINDA)