Two trends represent Korea today: South Korea's extraordinary economic boom and North Korea's stagnation and provocation.

By exposing them to the truth about their impoverishment and about the prosperity of their South Korean cousins, the United States can encourage North Koreans to change the regime in Pyongyang.

As Presidents Lee and Obama reaffirm the relationship and celebrate congressional approval of a long-pending free trade deal, they must also focus on difficult challenges ahead with North Korea and China's rise, say experts.

Korean Peninsula tensions are high, in part fueled by U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises. Experts say the United States must continue to work toward North Korea's denuclearization and prepare for volatility with a leadership change in Pyongyang.

Seoul's conservative government is struggling to reconcile its foreign policy goals with the popular sentiments of its people.

A conservative parliament may provide further impetus to South Korean president to maintain a harder line on Pyongyang.

The conservative front-runner won South Korea’s December 19 elections. His policies could test relations with North Korea.

Historic meetings later this month between North and South Korean leaders may focus more on economic development than nuclear concerns.

An imminent deadline is putting new pressure on U.S. trade talks. Bipartisan cooperation could help President Bush’s chances of passing deals in South Korea and Latin America.

South Koreans face a generational divide over policy toward North Korea, weighing a soft approach to their neighbor's nuclear moves or an alignment with the more hard-line U.S. stance.

The prickly relationship between Seoul and Washington gets tested this week as President Roh Moo-Hyun heads to the White House. Divisive issues include North Korea, trade, and control over joint military forces on the peninsula.

South Korea, which since the Korean War has relied heavily on its security alliance with the United States, is now trying to define a new role for itself in Asia. Seoul's growing economic relationship with China and its decision to engage North Korea are setting it at odds with U.S. policy goals in the region.

On the upcoming South Korean presidential election, Scott A. Snyder says the determining vote will be "South Korea's bulging forties cohort" that played a critical role in South Korea's transition from authoritiarianism to democracy and also has the greatest stake in its economic stability.

Despite an ongoing threat from North Korea, South Korea has emerged as a producer rather than a consumer of international security goods. As a newly elected member of the UN Security Council, South Korea has the opportunity to use these investments as a "middle power" and responsible leader in the international community, says Scott A. Snyder.

Scott A. Snyder and See-won Byun observe that while the twenty-year anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea may provide a pretext for more active diplomacy to meet a growing list of potential disputes in the relationship, high-level contacts between China and North Korea have stalled, dampening China's hopes for regional engagement.

Leslie H. Gelb argues that the world is distracted, and North Korea, South Korea, and the United States are stumbling, once again, toward a nuclear confrontation.

Scott A. Snyder and See-won Byun say that uncertainties regarding a new North Korean leadership will create the context in which China, South Korea, and the United States must grapple with their future options for preserving stability in Northeast Asia.

Scott A. Snyder and See-won Byun review the recent history of China-Korea relations.

Scott Snyder and See-won Byun analyze the divergent responses throughout Asia to the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.

Leslie H. Gelb says North Korea's attack on a South Korean island likely won't escalate into a full-blown battle, but war is closer than in decades.