For starters, the ongoing nuclear talks with North Korea remain the most direct way to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, even if hopes of a tangible diplomatic breakthrough seem increasingly bleak. A host of factors will decide how successfully Seoul balances these competing imperatives. Yet, amid this flurry of priorities, it has become more, not less, necessary for the Republic of Korea (ROK) military to maintain a high state of readiness and interoperability with U.S. The longtime allies are locked in a protracted dispute over cost sharing and beset by the challenges of coordinating diplomacy with interlocutors in Pyongyang who seem less inclined to make concessions than diplomats in Seoul or Washington would wish. As an added wrinkle, ties between Seoul and Washington are as contentious as they have been in recent memory. The conditions of preserving the country’s security have only grown more demanding as North Korea’s arsenal and other military capabilities have matured. South Korea faces a precarious security environment with an imposing nuclear-armed rival on its doorstep.
0 kommentar(er)
