While a military alliance and values alliance between South Korea and the US have both been espoused by previous conservative governments in Korea, the economic security alliance is a fairly new concept. But we should be wary of the flashing red lights.

As one expert put it, progress on North Korea will only come once we look at things from its point of view.

The Japanese government is calling to prevent nuclear proliferation and reduce nuclear arsenals while maintaining its current nuclear deterrence, while civil society and the Nagasaki municipal government are advocating the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in Northeast Asia on the grounds that eliminating nuclear weapons is the only way forward. Those represent two conflicting attitudes toward the nuclear issue in Japan today.

The North Korean nuclear issue can’t be resolved without US cooperation with Beijing — but Pompeo’s rhetoric makes that appear near impossible.

In the space of just over four months, the Ukraine war has turned into an exhausting global conflict that has already left the West feeling increasingly fatigued.

It’s hard to shake the impression that the US has become a kind of “outsourcing hegemon” that relies on its friends and allies to handle big jobs in the international community because its own power is more limited than it once was.