U.S. Iran strike raises concerns in Korea

The days of assuming strategic alignment and democratic solidarity are over. What remains is risk calculation. America is now a variable, not a constant.

So, the U.S. joined Israel with strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites—Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. There was no Security Council resolution, no ultimatum, no final warning. There were no reports of an imminent and immediate Iranian threat, no visual evidence of noncompliance with international agreements. In fact, Iran had continued to abide by the core obligations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and remained under partial inspection by the IAEA.

There were a few bizarre Trump tweets conflating Israel with the US; implied threats on the location of the Iranian leader; and an ambiguous presser with Trump saying “we’ll see” and something equally blase about how Iran had “two weeks”.

U.S. foreign policy and its lack of predictability now looks dangerous for South Korea—and that’s without considering the second and third-order effects.