SEOUL -- Foreign Minister Yoon Young Kwan's resignation Jan. 15 grabbed headlines in Seoul with South Korean-American relations at the heart of it. Although his successor and career diplomat, Ban Ki Moon, has promised to clean house, this won't be easy.
For as long as can be remembered, South Korean-American relations have been filled with tension among ordinary South Koreans about the American role in South Korea and at the government level about the relationship itself. Relations often have involved hard bargaining as in the recent decision to move U.S. forces south of the Demilitarized Zone and out of Seoul.
It is all well and good that the United States and South Korea enjoy a strong military partnership, but their alliance has a single focus -- to deter or repel a North Korean attack, not to engage the North diplomatically. And while the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group, involving the U.S., South Korea and Japan, was created for that purpose, its decision-making style doesn't always ensure a meaningful consensus.