Opportunities for U.S.-ROK Alliance Cooperation: New Issues on the Agenda

The “Joint Vision for the Alliance of the United States of America and the Republic of Korea (ROK),” released by Presidents Barack Obama and Lee Myung-bak on June 16, 2009, forged a new agenda for extending the U.S.-ROK alliance to include cooperation on common challenges beyond traditional security concerns.

On October 8, the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies (CNAPS) at Brookings hosted an event featuring contributors from A Roadmap for Expanding U.S.-ROK Alliance Cooperation, produced by the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at the Asia Foundation. At the event, the contributors presented their findings on expanding the U.S.-ROK alliance to cover such newly-emerging issues as pandemics and biological threats, counter-terrorism, and space cooperation.

Speakers included James L. Schoff, Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis; Kevin Shepard, Kyungnam University; and Clay Moltz, Naval Postgraduate School. Seongho Sheen, a CNAPS visiting fellow, served as a discussant. The program was moderated by Richard Bush, Brookings senior fellow and CNAPS director.