Yang Gyu Kim, Principal Researcher at EAI, examines the strengthening of the U.S.-Japan alliance following the recent summit and provides insights into future foreign policy directions for South Korea. Kim emphasizes that Japan's prospective participation in AUKUS Pillar 2 and its key position in numerous U.S.-led mini- and multilateral cooperation frameworks stem from the Japanese government's active endeavors and investments in aligning its China strategy with that of the U.S. In this context, Kim suggests that South Korea should enhance its cooperation with the U.S. to meet the goals of Defense Innovation 4.0, while also proactively responding to potential opposition from China and the challenges posed by North Korea's New Cold War diplomacy.

Chaesung Chun, Chair of the EAI’s National Security Research Center and Professor at Seoul National University, examines the complex dynamics of the DPRK-China-Russia alliance, highlighting its inherent weaknesses. As North Korea advances its New Cold War diplomacy against the backdrop of the Ukraine-Russia War and U.S.-China rivalry, Chun explores the dilemma South Korea faces: should it consider the tripartite alliance sustainable, or see North Korea as potentially open to negotiations with the U.S. and ROK? While the outcome is uncertain, Chun emphasizes that South Korea must dissociate great power politics from nonproliferation efforts and foster a cooperative framework that will encourage DPRK to give up its nuclear arsenal and return to the negotiating table.

Antoine Bondaz, Director of the Korea Program on Security and Diplomacy at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), examines the EU’s “critical engagement policy” with North Korea, initiated after the first nuclear crisis in 2006. Despite this policy causing a collapse in bilateral trade, the author underscores that European nations have consciously separated humanitarian aid from political agendas, allowing the EU to maintain an important intermediary role in international negotiations with the North Korean regime. However, Bondaz predicts that the rapid shifts in diplomatic priorities for both the EU and DPRK, influenced by geopolitical dynamics, render future political bilateral exchanges highly unlikely.