New CNAS Report: "Digital Allies: Deepening U.S.–South Korea Cooperation on Technology and Innovation"

Washington, March 22, 2022—Rapid advances in digital and other emerging technologies have become a defining feature of international geopolitics in the 21st century. The United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea) both possess key advantages as leading technological powers and robust democracies. Clearly, technology issues will play a central role in the U.S.-South Korea alliance going forward.

In the new CNAS paper, Digital Allies: Deepening U.S.–South Korea Cooperation on Technology and Innovation, authors Jacob Stokes, Alexander Sullivan, and Joshua Fitt explore how the United States and South Korea can broaden and deepen their alliance through expanded cooperation on issues related to technology and innovation.

The report covers:

• The role of technology cooperation in the broader context of the U.S.-ROK alliance.
  
• The state of play between Washington and Seoul in key technology areas.
  
• The overlap between the technology pillars of U.S. and South Korean policies toward the broader Indo-Pacific.
  
• Recommendations for policymakers for advancing U.S.-ROK technology cooperation, especially in the Indo-Pacific region.

"Despite the continued centrality of traditional security threats—especially those emanating from North Korea—both the United States and South Korea are seeking to deepen and broaden alliance cooperation to address a larger set of shared challenges and opportunities," write the authors. "To that end, both capitals have noted the increasing importance of key technologies for economic growth as well as for security and governance. The two countries are at the very beginning of defining how an augmented alliance will approach technology coordination, but they have decades of economic and trade ties on which to build."

For more information or to schedule an interview with the report authors, please contact Cameron Edinburgh at [email protected].

Read the Report: