Conference report

In October 1995, scholars, military officers, diplomats, journalists, public figures, and concerned private citizens of the two alliance partners and regional states gathered in Seoul, Korea, to assess the impact of these changes and to seek new directions for the alliance. The Strategic Studies Institute is pleased to have co-hosted this international workshop on the U.S.-ROK Alliance in collaboration with the Institute for Far Eastern Studies of Kyungnam University and in partnership with The Korea Society and the Defense Nuclear Agency. This conference report summarizes the deliberations of the participants. For nearly half a century, the security alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States has deterred aggression and helped assure stability in Northeast Asia. The alliance has stood firm through war and tumultuous political, economic, and social change. Much of the change in Northeast Asia has been positive and the Republic of Korea is now one of the advanced democratic industrial countries of the world. The countries of Northeast Asia, along with the United States, with its deep ties of history and interest in the area, now look ahead to a region which will progress rapidly as the Cold War recedes and the few remaining communist states undergo inevitable transformation.