Introduction

In honor of the efforts of Pacific Forum’s former president and board chairman James Kelly, Pacific Forum is honored to facilitate the James A. Kelly Korea Fellowship for emerging scholars of the Korean Peninsula. These emerging leaders, whether in resident or nonresident capacity, produce a paper under the supervision of Pacific Forum staff, and in this volume we are delighted to share five such papers: Alexander Hynd, 2022-2023 nonresident fellow joins with Max Broad to evaluate the impact of the Washington Declaration of April 2023; current nonresident fellow Daeun Choi evaluates the nuclear strategies of Kim Jong Un since his rise to power in 2011; 2023-2024 nonresident fellow James JB Park discusses options for the revitalization of the UN Command amid South Korea’s population decline; current nonresident fellow Tom Ramage discusses how Seoul’s efforts the secure critical mineral supplies in Africa could stimulate increased competition for such resources; and 2024 resident fellow Kendrick Farm argues that South Korea must secure its rare earth elements supply even as it secures its neutrality in a potential US-China armed conflict.

But the Kelly Fellowship is not the only means by which Pacific Forum assists in developing the next generation of foreign policy analysts, and the US-ROK alliance is hardly the only US pact undergoing transition at the time when the US-China competition is heating up and the US reevaluates the nature of its partnerships. 2022 Lloyd and Lilian Nonresident Vasey Fellow
Florence Principe Gamboa evaluates how the Philippines has and should adapt to Trump 2.0, while 2024 Nonresident WSD-Handa Fellow Rei Koga evaluates the differences in FDI regulation
in Japan and Australia, both key US treaty allies, certain to be part of any broad US economy security strategy to emerge under this Trump administration.

Rob York 

Director for Regional Affairs 

Pacific Forum

Download the full volume here.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

THE WASHINGTON DECLARATION AND THE US-SOUTH KOREA ALLIANCE: RESPONSES, IMPLEMENTATION, AND IMPACT

SOUTH KOREAN CRITICAL MINERAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

PROSPECTS FOR BETTER PHILIPPINES-US RELATIONS UNDER TRUMP 2.0

THE REVITALIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS COMMAND: WHY IT IS POSSIBLE

STRATEGIC CULTURE AND FDI REGULATION FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: COMPARISON BETWEEN JAPAN AND AUSTRALIA

A STUDY ON NUCLEAR STRATEGIES IN THE KIM JONG UN ERA

HOW SOUTH KOREA CAN PROTECT ITS DUAL STATUS AS A US ALLY AND SEMICONDUCTOR POWER

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

About the Authors

ALEXANDER M. HYND is a Lecturer at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. Alexander’s research on South Korea’s nuclear debates as a Non-resident James A. Kelly Fellow at Pacific Forum has recently been published in the Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]

MAX BROAD is a Research Associate at the Lowy Institute. Max joined the Institute from the Australian Public Service, where he worked on national security policy. He has previous experience at the IISS in Singapore, and CSIS Indonesia. He can be reached at [email protected]

TOM RAMAGE is an Economic Policy Analyst at the Korea Economic Institute of America as well as a 2024-2025 Nonresident James A. Kelly Korean Studies Fellow with the Pacific Forum. Prior to joining KEI, Tom served as an Analyst at Thomson Reuters Special Services and as a Policy Research Fellow at the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Tom earned an MA degree focusing on International Economics and China Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He received a BA from Hobart College where he spent his junior year as an exchange student at Yonsei University in Seoul. From 2016 to 2018, Tom was a Peace Corps Volunteer in China based in Sichuan province.

FLORENCE PRINCIPE GAMBOA is the Managing Editor and Coordinator of FACTS Asia. She currently a Research, Innovation and Collaboration Exchange (RICE) Program Fellow at the East-West Center. She is also Pacific Forum Young Leader and was previously a non-resident Lloyd and Lilian Vasey Fellow.

JAMES JB PARK, a Captain (R) of the Republic of Korea Army, is a 2024 Non-resident James A. Kelly Korea Studies Fellow, a Geopolitics Fellow at the Indo-Pacific Studies Center, and an Irregular Warfare Initiative Fellow at the Modern War Institute of West Point. Captain began his public service as an interpreting officer stationed in the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, liaising between the two great nations’ servicemen. He was awarded several commendations from the Eighth United States Army and the Combined Forces Command. Beyond his recent media presence, including the Wall Street Journal, the Diplomat, and Asia Times, Captain Park is a Young Leader of the Pacific Forum and a NextGen member of the Royal United Service Institute. He holds a BA in politics from New York University.

REI KOGA served as WSD-Handa Research Fellow at Pacific Forum in 2024. She is a Ph.D. candidate in International Political Economy at the Department of European and International Studies, King’s College London (KCL). Her research interest revolves around Chinese economic statecraft and responses in the Indo-Pacific region. Her articles appear in Pacific Focus and Asia Times. Prior to joining KCL, she studied at the University of Bristol and was awarded Master of Research in Global Political Economy with Distinction in 2022. During her master’s study, she was a Rotary Global Grants Scholarship student. She also worked for the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan from 2016 to 2019.

DAEUN CHOI is a Research Associate at the Center for Foreign Policy and National Security at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, South Korea. Previously she worked as a Diplomacy research development associate at Youthplomacy and a human rights analyst at the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights. She also supported city-diplomacy activities at the Seoul Institue after undertaking a political internship at the EU Delegation to the Republic of Korea. Her research interests are security and foreign policy of the Asia-Pacific, inter-Korean relations, geopolitical issues, and North Korea’s nuclear policy and US-ROK alliance, extended deterrence. She holds an MA in International Peace and Security from Korea University Graduate School of International Studies, South Korea and earned her BA in Politics and International Relations from the University of Manchester, U.K. Email: [email protected]

KENDRICK FARM is a Former In-Resident James A. Kelly Fellow in Korean Studies, Pacific Forum. Kendrick’s research on South Korea’s semiconductor industry, supply chains, and rare earth elements. He can be reached at [email protected]

Photo Credit: Times of India