ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the trend in US-South Korean security relations. It aims to identify the critical issues in the relationship and to make projections about how they may be resolved in the context of Northeast Asia's new international order. With the rising military capabilities of the two Koreas, the issue of US nuclear weapons on the peninsula began to have implications far beyond the intended goal of strategic deterrence. With the rise of South Korea's capabilities and international status, new issues will surely emerge in the US-South Korean military interaction. Yet the two nations will find ways to solve them. In essence, what began as a manifestation of US extended deterrence is about to become an exemplar of interdependence. What is required of both Washington and Seoul is a concerted effort to recalculate the strategic roles to be played in the future by the US forces in South Korea.
