Security and economic alliances with the US

President Lee Myung-bak was briefed on global security including the situation in North Korea at the Pentagon in Washington on Wednesday. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey and other top American brass were there. Lee is the first South Korean president to visit the Pentagon and the U.S. Defense Department and for the latter to give a security briefing to a foreign head of state. As U.S. President Barack Obama said in an exclusive written interview with The Dong-A Ilbo, the event confirmed that the bilateral alliance is "more solid than ever."

Presidents Lee and Obama reconfirmed at their summit talks that the alliance is the No. 1 pillar of security for South Korea and a cornerstone for security in the Pacific region to the U.S. They also agreed to further strengthen the “Pacific Partnership for Peace and Prosperity.” Despite military budget cuts over the next decade, Obama said he will make efforts toward South Korea’s defense and security. The bilateral summit is all the more welcome given growing uncertainty surrounding the Korean Peninsula with the continuous threat from the North and the rapid expansion of China. In times of volatility, nothing is more certain than the Seoul-Washington alliance.

The ratification of the free trade agreement between South Korea and the U.S. by the U.S. Congress will allow both countries to have an economic alliance. Bilateral relations are now fully equipped with two wings: a military alliance for the defense of South Korea and its people and an economic alliance that maximizes benefits through free trade. As President Lee said, "We`ve opened a new chapter in history.”

The two leaders laid the foundation for elevating their bilateral relationship to a global alliance. Both sides will support Libya, a country that kicked out its dictator Moammar Gadhafi and is struggling to turn into a democracy. South Korea can raise its presence on the global stage with the U.S., a world power. Both leaders have more than one year to go in their terms. They showed their close relationship over "bulgogi," or Korean-style marinated grilled beef, at a Korean restaurant. Much is expected from the two leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul in March next year.

To benefit from the upgraded relationship, people in South Korea need to assess the results of bilateral diplomacy and what they gained and lost. The alliance is valued enough through imagining that the country built both security and economic alliances with the U.S. South Korea`s opposition parties should learn from Congress that ratified the free trade deal. Groups that undermine bilateral relations by focusing on anti-Americanism must change.