One Alliance, Two Lenses: U.S.-Korea Relations in a New Era

One Alliance, Two Lenses is an innovative and unique study of the asymmetrical nature of U.S.-Korea relations. Focusing on the period between 1992 and 2003—a time of intense geopolitical change, deepening democratization in the ROK (South Korea), and heightened tensions over nuclear armament in the DPRK (North Korea), this book explores key conceptual differences in how South Koreans and Americans made sense of their bilateral relationship and, in turn, how these differences resulted in mounting tensions for this decades-long alliance. The book argues that the key difference between the U.S. and the ROK's perception of the alliance hinged on the distinction between policy and identity. Despite the extensive U.S. involvement in the formation and history of the ROK—from its role in dividing the Korean Peninsula at the 38th parallel to its ongoing deployment of tens of thousands of U.S. military troops—the United States rarely, if ever, viewed its relationship with...