On February 8, the United States and Japan jointly announced changes to the existing bilateral accord for realigning U.S. Marines on Okinawa. While both sides affirmed commitment to relocating a Marine air unit on the island, more significantly, the Obama Administration abandoned longstanding U.S. insistence that Japan fulfill pre-conditional commitments… Read more

President Obama’s new defense strategy is long on rhetoric but bereft of details on how it will actually be implemented. The President boldly promised to maintain or augment U.S. military capabilities against a spectrum of global threats, but planned draconian defense cuts of $1 trillion would undermine the U.S.’s ability… Read more

North Korea is developing a road-mobile ICBM, expanding the future threat to the United States beyond the Taepo Dong 2 long-range missile that would be launched from fixed sites. U.S. intelligence information disclosed to Congress last month reportedly identified recent North Korean progress on the mobile missile system, though no… Read more

After four long years and an estimated $40 billion in lost U.S. exports, the Korea–U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) has finally been submitted to Congress. Although signed in 2007, the FTA languished as U.S. legislators demanded additional conditions on behalf of the auto and beef sectors and organized labor.… Read more

As dependable as the tide, a new prime minister has washed ashore in Japan. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda is the latest iteration of what has become an annual ritual of Japanese leadership change. Prime Minister Naoto Kan has been unceremoniously tossed aside, although his 15-month term will be remembered as… Read more

Pyongyang’s latest attempts to re-engage the world have again raised expectations for a resumption of nuclear negotiations or at least a lowering of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. During the past two months, Kim Jong-il or his subordinates have met with all member countries of the six-party talks. Pyongyang has… Read more

Surprise meetings between North and South Korean nuclear negotiators this weekend and Washington’s subsequent invitation to Pyongyang for bilateral talks in New York are significant for their occurrence. However, it is premature to see them as a breakthrough toward achieving North Korean denuclearization. In fact, they are not even negotiations… Read more

From the Korean War to Operation Just Cause in Panama to Plan Colombia, the U.S. has expended lives and treasure to protect Colombia, Panama, and South Korea from Communist aggression, narco-violence, insurgency, and misrule. The investment has paid off. Today, all three are increasingly prosperous democracies and… Read more