The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its four partner countries in the Indo-Pacific Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and New Zealand have entered a period of increased engagement. This engagement is taking shape in the context of the war waged by the Russian Federation (Russia) against Ukraine, NATO’s growing awareness of the security challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China (China), and important structural changes in the international system, including the return of strategic competition between the United States and China and Russia. It is occurring not only in bilateral NATO-partner relations but also between NATO and these Indo-Pacific countries as a group.
one of the world's perennial flash-points is the Korean peninsula. Over one million troops in high combat readiness are camped in an area smaller than the state of Minnesota. On one side are some 40,000 American troops and 600,000 South Korean troops. Facing them are 830,,000 North Korean soldiers. Deployed in bordering Chinese and Soviet territories are several hundred thousand more troops which might be drawn into any future war on the Korean peninsula.
Joining a series of North Korean statements over upcoming South Korea-U.S. military drills, the supreme leader’s sister warned of taking a military response.
Cars have been at the center of trade disputes between Korea and the U.S. for more than 30 years. When Korean cars began making inroads into the U.S. in the late 1980s and early 1990s, U.S. auto manufacturers complained that both tariff and non-tariff barriers were keeping their products out of Korea. Although Seoul would make some concessions, the number of U.S. cars sold in Korea remained extremely low.