The alignment between the U.S. and South Korea has historically centered on military readiness, begun as a security shield to prevent a second invasion on the Korean peninsula.
While mutual defense remains essential to deterring North Korea, the Washington-Seoul alliance has much more to it since the fighting stopped more than 70 years ago.
“The relationship between the United States of America and the Republic of Korea is shifting,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, chairman of the Gold Institute for International Strategy in Washington, on Wednesday at this year’s Indo-Pacific Summit.
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“It’s been a great relationship for many, many years. But there’s a big shift going on, and that shift is more of an economic relationship,” Gen. Flynn said. “[Koreans] produce, they create, they innovate, they build, and they work hard. That economy is now part of our economy, part of the United States’ economy, and that’s a big deal.”
The Korea-US Alliance Foundation said South Korean companies accounted for the largest share of jobs created by foreign companies through direct investment in the U.S. market. More than 180,000 new jobs were created in the first six months of 2023.
The 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty, signed by both nations in the aftermath of the Korean War, codified the U.S. commitment to defend South Korea.
The treaty established the framework for Combined Forces Command — the bi-national military headquarters responsible for deterring armed aggression against South Korea — and the permanent stationing of tens of thousands of U.S. troops on the peninsula.
Retired Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Tata, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness at the Pentagon, said his introduction to Korea was as a young Army platoon leader deployed there for Team Spirit, major annual exercises between the U.S. and Korea that were held from 1976 to 1993.
The maneuvers were designed to test and improve the interoperability between U.S. and South Korean forces.
Gen. Tata recalled taking part in a large-scale helicopter air assault mission during the maneuvers. After climbing into the UH-1 Huey helicopter, he noticed that the pilots were from the South Korean military.
“I said, ’This is actually really cool,’” he said Wednesday.
“There were hundreds of helicopters doing this massive air assault, and we did river crossing operations — a big show of force for North Korea,” he said.
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