by Grant Newsham, U.S. Marine Corps Colonel (Ret.)
Undersecretary of War, Elbridge Colby called South Korea (Republic of Korea, ROK) a "model ally" while visiting Seoul a few months ago. A "model ally?" Compared to what?
South Korea is still a longtime partner and an ally bound by a mutual defense treaty signed in 1953. However, all relationships change over time, and the U.S.-ROK relationship isn’t what it once was.
Most of America’s ‘model’ allies don’t have influential figures associated with the ruling party — in this case, the elder brother of Kim Min-Seok, until recently the prime minister and now in the running to head the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) — declared that Trump’s America is "the apex of Yankee imperialism.”
It’s equally rare when the former prime minister himself and the head of the ruling party, were both imprisoned as younger men for pro-North Korea for acts against the U.S. ambassador’s residence and a US Information Agency office in South Korea. Neither has ever apologized and explained it away, even as ‘youthful exuberance.’
And South Korea’s President himself, Lee Jae Myung, has referred to U.S. forces in South Korea after World War Two as an "occupying force." He was also accused of being involved in the unauthorized transfer of U.S. $8 million to North Korea while serving as governor of Gyeonggi Province. Lee denies the charges, but his then-subordinate has been convicted.
Since taking office in mid-2025, the Lee administration’s Unification Ministry has seemed keen to provoke the United States. The South Korean government early on picked a fight over longstanding, effective bilateral procedures for managing the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea.
South Korean prosecutors also improperly accessed restricted areas (and reportedly, sensstive information) at Osan Air Base while pursuing an investigation into activities by the former South Korean administration directed at North Korea. On another occasion, a Lee administration official released secret information on North Korean nuclear activities provided by the US.
Other South Korean officials are pushing to assume wartime ‘operational control’ over combined ROK and US forces more for political reasons than meeting actual readiness requirements – and contrary to bilateral understandings on when such changes will be made.
Chafing US global policies
“Model ally” South Korea has not been helpful with the U.S. campaign against Iran, and has complained about modest transfers of U.S. military hardware from South Korea to the Middle East. The Lee administration also doesn’t seem interested in helping out with the defense of Taiwan either, which is the lynchpin of the U.S. defense line in the Indo-Pacific and of great importance to South Korea’s own security. Nor is it keen to give U.S. forces in South Korea permission to redeploy in the event of a Taiwan contingency. This perhaps isn’t surprising. While a candidate for the presidency, Lee Jae Myung said Taiwan was none of South Korea’s business, a stance that is music to Beijing’s ears.
