Ever since its founding in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has maintained an aggressive and bellicose international security posture. Today, fully two decades after the end of the Cold War, North Korea's external defense and security policies look arguably more extreme and anomalous than ever.

Despite having little demonstrable interest in giving up its nuclear weapons, North Korea is once again headed for a negotiating table to do just that. That the North Koreans have been invited at all is a testament to the strange desperation of both the Obama administration and the South Korean Lee Myung-bak administration to return to the Six Party Talks.

At this event, experts will analyze the grave military threats to the U.S.-Korea alliance, the economic dilemmas arising from the global financial crisis, and lingering disagreements over U.S. trade with Korea.

In the coming confused days, the United States and South Korea should make clear to Pyongyang’s diplomats that no destabilizing actions will be tolerated and that the two will act to protect their joint interests and uphold peace on the peninsula and in the region, including Japan.

While the Obama administration may have had a relatively good year in Asia, it still must follow up and break bad habits.

South Korean president-elect Lee Myung-bak will take office on February 25, 2008. A member of the conservative Grand National Party and former executive of the Hyundai Corporation, Lee won the December 2007 contest by the largest margin since the advent of competitive democratic elections in the Republic of Korea (ROK)...

As Presidents Barack Obama and Lee Myung-bak prepare for their first official summit next week, the North Korean nuclear crisis is surely at the top of their agenda.

The meeting between President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak was cordial, but everyone had to tiptoe around the elephant in the room: the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.