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This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement and the subsequent signing of the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty. For the past seventy years, the ROK-U.S. alliance has been a critical framework for South Korea's security. But why did South Korea actively pursue a bilateral security pact rather than a multilateral alliance similar to NATO? To answer this question, it is helpful to briefly review South Korea's geopolitical calculations during the Korean War.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement and the subsequent signing of the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty. For the past seventy years, the ROK-U.S. alliance has been a critical framework for South Korea's security. But why did South Korea actively pursue a bilateral security pact rather than a multilateral alliance similar to NATO? To answer this question, it is helpful to briefly review South Korea's geopolitical calculations during the Korean War.

This year's spring has been a busy time of bilateral diplomacy between South Korea and Japan. In March, South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol visited Japan to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, marking the first bilateral summit in 12 years. The summit revived shuttle diplomacy between the two heads of state. In early May, Kishida visited South Korea for another summit and invited Korea's president again to Japan to participate in the G7 Summit later that month. During the G7 Summit, the two leaders visited a memorial in Hiroshima commemorating the Korean victims of the atomic bomb.

Throughout its history, Korea has faced geopolitical challenges from regional neighbors. Korea's past rulers have struggled to protect the nation's sovereignty amid regional geopolitical conflicts.

Recently, foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan held a bilateral meeting while attending the Munich Security Conference. The foreign ministers discussed two topics. First, they condemned North Korea's latest conducting of an ICBM missile test. Second, the foreign ministers continued the bilateral negotiations on resolving the issue of compensation for the South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.