Trump will probably attempt to resume his relationship with Kim in his second time period.
This units up a state of affairs the place the US favours a dictatorship over a treaty ally in its overseas coverage. That will be a shift extra outstanding than the approaching abandonment of Ukraine, which isn’t a proper US ally.
Trump additionally has a protracted historical past of demanding US allies pay for American safety ensures. He has been notably excessive concerning South Korea. Simply final month, he described South Korea as a “cash machine”, saying he desires to multiply by 9 occasions the price of stationing US troops in South Korea.
The place NATO allies can collectively grapple with Trump’s calls for, South Korea’s place is far more durable. It’s remoted in northeast Asia. It faces three nuclear autocracies on its doorstep, and its relations with Japan are poor (due to historic grievances courting to Japanese imperialism throughout World Conflict II). It stands alone in opposition to Trump ought to he act as he did in his final presidency.
This might simply provoke an alliance disaster. Professional-alliance South Korean conservatives may be keen to accede to Trump’s big monetary demand to stop an alliance fallout. However the public blowback could be intense, and the South Korean left, which is at the moment in opposition, would use it to pummel the federal government as weak and craven. The approval score of South Korea’s present, conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, is at an all-time low of simply 19 per cent, that means he probably lacks the general public assist to appease Trump.
