Korea

Korea

The alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States remains critical to maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the surrounding region, while trade and investments between both countries provides a foundation for enhanced cooperation in key areas such as technology and energy. The pursuit of nuclear weapons by the regime in North Korea threatens to destabilize the peninsula and the entire region. The Republic of Korea is also increasingly exploring opportunities to engage with Southeast Asia and contribute to the US vision for the Indo-Pacific.

There’s No North Korea Crisis

Dispatches
Jan 27, 2026

Taiwan has been a strategic blind spot for South Korea

By
Bee Yun Jo

South Korea is beginning to acknowledge that cross-Strait stability is increasingly a foundational element of overall regional security.

China
Indo-Pacific

There’s No North Korea Crisis

New Atlanticist
Dec 18, 2025

South Korea and Europe are stepping up on security cooperation. Here’s why.

By
David F. Helvey

The growing ties reflect a shared understanding that deterrence in the twenty-first century is global.

Defense Industry
Europe & Eurasia

There’s No North Korea Crisis

New Atlanticist
Nov 6, 2025

How South Korea advanced its trade and technology agenda at the APEC summit

By
Kayla T. Orta

South Korea leveraged its diplomatic influence to strengthen Seoul’s standing within the multilateral economic framework and secure trade deals with the United States.

Economy & Business
Indo-Pacific

Projects


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The Tiger Project: War and deterrence in the Indo-Pacific

Explore the Atlantic Council’s work on current and enduring defense and deterrence issues in the Indo-Pacific, featuring expert commentary, multimedia content, and in-depth analysis.

Explore the programs

The Indo-Pacific Security Initiative (IPSI) informs and shapes the strategies, plans, and policies of the United States and its allies and partners to address the most important rising security challenges in the Indo-Pacific, including China’s growing threat to the international order and North Korea’s destabilizing nuclear weapons advancements. IPSI produces innovative analysis, conducts tabletop exercises, hosts public and private convenings, and engages with US, allied, and partner governments, militaries, media, other key private and public-sector stakeholders, and publics.

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Content

New Atlanticist

Apr 12, 2013

There’s No North Korea Crisis

By Robert A. Manning

From the hysterical TV portrayals of goose-stepping North Korean troops, breathless news reports of North Korean warnings of war, and maps depicting the range of imminent missile launches (complete with retired U.S. generals explaining the targets), you might think there is a crisis on the Korean Peninsula. But there is no crisis, only a farce.This […]

Korea

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2013

Dealing with the North Korean Threats

By Harlan Ullman

More than a century ago, as this column noted, events in Europe were simultaneously described as serious but not yet desperate and as desperate but not fully serious. Given the antics of the Boy Sun King in Pyongyang, Kim Jung Un, it is hard to know how serious or desperate the current situation on the […]

China Korea

New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2013

North Korea: Sad, Bad, and Mad?

By Julian Lindley-French

In 2000 Cranfield University’s Professor Helen Smith posed the now seminal question about North Korea, “Bad, Mad, Sad, or Rational Actor?” Kim Jong-un, the thirtyish leader of the somewhat misnomered Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) would indeed seem on the face of it to be bad, mad, and sad.

Korea

New Atlanticist

Apr 1, 2013

Confronting What We Don’t Know About the Korean Crisis

By Rajan Menon

War cries, threats and counter-threats, moves and counter-moves are emanating from the Korean peninsula. Pundits have pronounced on what’s going on and where things are headed. So this may be a good time to engage in some humility and to reflect on how little we know.

Korea

New Atlanticist

Mar 7, 2013

North Korean Albatross Around China’s Neck

By Robert A. Manning

North Korea’s recent nuclear test was a stark reminder to China that the days of a “lips and teeth” relationship with Pyongyang, of Mao Zedong and Kim Il-sung half a century ago, are long gone. Nuclear test after nuclear test, missile test after missile test, Pyongyang has time after time ignored Beijing’s pleas not to […]

Korea National Security

New Atlanticist

Feb 21, 2013

The Pyongyang Persian Pickle

By Harlan Ullman

In English slang, “pickle” means a bad situation or a state of disorder. The provenance is Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” And pickle well applies to the nuclear ambitions of North Korea, Iran and U.S. policy.

Korea Nuclear Nonproliferation

NATOSource

Dec 6, 2012

NATO expresses ‘grave concern’ about North Korea’s intent to launch a ballistic missile

By NATO

From NATO:  The North Atlantic Council expresses its grave concern at North Korea’s declared intent to launch a rocket using ballistic missile technology this month. Such an act would be in direct violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874.  It would risk exacerbating tensions in the region and further destabilising the Korean […]

Korea NATO

New Atlanticist

Mar 28, 2012

America’s Number One Geostrategic Threat?

By James Joyner

Yesterday, likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney declared Russia “without question, our No. 1 geopolitical foe.”

Iran Korea

New Atlanticist

Oct 26, 2011

Persistence Pays Off with “Rogue” Regimes

By Barbara Slavin

The United States and North Korea are resuming the joint search for U.S. soldiers still missing from the Korean War, one of the few positive areas of interaction between two countries estranged for more than 60 years. The announcement last week by the Pentagon came before two days of U.S.-North Korea talks in Geneva over […]

Korea

Event Recap

Sep 23, 2011

From North Korea to South Sudan: The Path of Crisis and the European Response

By Jason Harmala

On September 23, the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Relations Program hosted a conversation with Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. The Commissioner discussed the EU’s role in disaster response and the current challenges faced by her office. As Commissioner, she has overseen the EU response to humanitarian crises such as […]

East Africa European Union
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Experts

Fellow

Jieun Baek

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Democratic Transitions Human Rights

Fellow

Scott D. Berrier

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Afghanistan Defense Policy

Fellow

Sungmin Cho

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

China Defense Policy

Fellow

Jonathan Corrado

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Indo-Pacific Korea

Fellow

Shawn Creamer

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

Security & Defense East Asia

Fellow

Nik Foster

Nonresident Fellow

Global China Hub

China Energy & Environment
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