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🇺🇸🇰🇷U.S. Displaces Gulf as Top Naphtha Supplier to Korea The United States has become South Korea's largest naphtha supplier following the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran conflict in late February, now accounting for 24.7% of Korean imports. Before the war, the U.S. ranked seventh — behind the UAE, Algeria, Qatar, Kuwait, and India. India, Algeria, and the UAE now fill the remaining top slots at 23.2%, 14.5%, and 10.2% respectively. The shift reflects a supply availability response rather than a confirmed structural realignment — South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources cautioned that the naphtha market remains highly price-sensitive. Seoul is on track to secure up to 90% of pre-war supply levels for May, aided by import diversification, policy support, and supplementary imports of basic petrochemical feedstock from China. Korea's petrochemical sector is expanding plant operations in line with recovering inbound volumes, with April contract activity matching all of March within just two weeks. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics

🇺🇸🇰🇷US Confirms THAAD Remains in South Korea US Forces Korea commander General Xavier Brunson testified before a Senate committee on April 21 that no THAAD systems were relocated from South Korea to the Middle East. Earlier March reports from The Washington Post had cited Pentagon officials claiming parts of the system were moved. Brunson clarified that radar components were temporarily forward-deployed and munitions sent ahead — not the THAAD battery itself — generating the confusion. The THAAD system in South Korea is the primary high-altitude ballistic missile intercept layer against North Korea. Its reported redeployment had triggered concern in Seoul over degraded deterrence, with the issue raised directly at Senate level by Democratic Senator Gary Peters. Brunson confirmed the radar moves were linked to Operation Midnight Hammer — US strikes on Iran in June 2025 — and that some components had not yet returned. Brunson stated he expects THAAD to remain on the Korean Peninsula, maintaining the current deterrence posture against Pyongyang. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics

🇰🇷🇺🇸Seoul Faces Tariff Risk Over Hormuz Exemption Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said at the Asan Plenum forum that South Korea seeking an Iran-granted transit exemption for its vessels through the Strait of Hormuz could prompt the Trump administration to impose additional punitive tariffs on Seoul. A CSIS report found that most stranded South Korean ships would remain blocked even with an Iranian exemption, as the majority have US or Saudi ownership links. South Korea's government-only oil reserves stand at 77.6 million barrels, covering approximately 26 days of supply following a contribution to the International Energy Agency's emergency release. Cha assessed that South Korea is unlikely to pursue a direct arrangement with Iran given ongoing trade and security negotiations with Washington. He indicated Seoul would more probably monitor Japan's decisions on the matter and align its response accordingly. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics

🇰🇷🇺🇸Seoul, US Lawmakers Discuss Alliance, Shipbuilding South Korea's Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back met a bipartisan delegation of four US senators in Seoul on April 2, requesting congressional support for the alliance and raising South Korea's bid to build a nuclear-powered submarine. Ahn also emphasized that cooperation in shipbuilding and maintenance could support the US push to revive its own shipbuilding industry. The Senate delegation, comprising two Democrats and two Republicans, pledged bipartisan support for the 70-year alliance. Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Jacklyn Rosen, Thom Tillis, and John Curtis attended the meeting. Separately, Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee met six members of the bipartisan Congressional Study Group on Korea, briefing them on Seoul's efforts to achieve wartime operational control transfer from Washington. South Korea is pursuing the conditions-based handover within President Lee Jae Myung's term, which ends in 2030. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics

🇺🇸🇰🇷US Marines drill near inter-Korean border The 12th Marine Littoral Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division conducted live-fire drills at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, approximately 40 kilometers north of Seoul. The exercises ran from February 26 to March 4, according to the US Indo-Pacific Command. The company-level drills involved integrating maneuver elements and reconnaissance capabilities to execute a coordinated assault on a designated objective. The unit is ordinarily based in Okinawa, Japan. The drills coincided with the Okinawa-based Marines' participation in the Korean Marine Exercise Program, an annual joint exercise with South Korean Marines held earlier in March. #USA#SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷🇺🇸SK Hynix Eyes $10B US Listing South Korea's SK Hynix is considering raising 10 trillion to 15 trillion won ($10 billion) through a US ADR listing, according to the Korea Economic Daily. The funds would likely be directed toward building AI infrastructure and expanding production capacity for memory chips. SK Hynix confirmed to Reuters that it is reviewing measures to enhance shareholder value, including an ADR listing, but stated that nothing has been finalised. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said the potential listing is intended to broaden the company's global investor base beyond South Korea. SK Hynix holds a 57% share of the high-bandwidth memory chip market and ranks second in global DRAM with a 32% share, behind Samsung Electronics. Shares of the company closed up 5.7% following the report, compared with a 2.7% rise in the benchmark KOSPI index. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics

🇺🇸🇰🇷USFK Soldier Booked for Seoul Nightclub Assault A member of US Forces Korea in his twenties was apprehended at the scene after allegedly assaulting a South Korean man at a nightclub in Seoul's Hongdae district around 3 a.m. on Saturday. The incident began after the victim bumped shoulders with the soldier's group, resulting in a fractured nose. The Mapo Police Station confirmed the soldier was subsequently transferred to USFK custody under the Status of Forces Agreement, which governs the legal jurisdiction over the approximately 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea. Police stated they will determine next steps after establishing the full details of the incident. #USA#SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷🇺🇸 Pentagon calls U.S. 'flexibility' to meet urgent needs a 'strength' amid THAAD redeployment A senior Pentagon official said "flexibility" in redeploying military assets to meet urgent needs across the world is a "tremendous" strength of a US defense system, while commenting on concerns about the reported movement of a South Korea-based missile defense asset to the Middle East. The official said that he cannot speak to the duration of any particular redeployment of a military asset. But he reiterated the United States' commitment to the Seoul-Washington alliance. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics

🇰🇷🇺🇸 South Korea says US V-P Vance welcomes Seoul’s investment Bill South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok met US Vice-President J.D. Vance in Washington on March 12, where the two discussed the passage of a special Bill enabling Seoul to implement a US$350 billion investment pledge in the US. Kim told Vance the Bill’s approval in Seoul’s Parliament earlier in the day demonstrated the government’s strong commitment to carrying out the investment agreement reached between the countries’ leaders. In late January, US President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on South Korean goods to 25%, saying Seoul’s legislature had yet to enact the trade framework that had capped US levies at 15%. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics

🇰🇷🇺🇸South Korea says it cannot stop US forces from redeploying weapons to Middle East South Korea cannot stop Washington from redeploying some weapons stationed in the country, President Lee Jae Myung said on Tuesday, after reports ‌that US Patriot missile defense systems were being sent to the conflict in the Middle East. "It appears that there is controversy recently over US Forces in ​Korea shipping some weapons, such as artillery batteries and air-defence weapons, out of the country," Lee said in a cabinet meeting, noting that while ​Seoul had expressed opposition, it was not in a position to make demands. South Korean media reported some missile batteries had been shipped out of the Osan Air Base and were likely to be redeployed to US military bases in Saudi Arabia ​and the United Arab Emirates, though South Korean authorities have not confirmed these reports. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics

🇺🇸🇰🇷 S. Korea, US begin joint military exercise to bolster combined defense South Korea and the United States on Monday embarked on an annual joint military drill, a large-scale exercise designed to strengthen their combined defense posture through all-domain operations. The Freedom Shield exercise, scheduled to run for 11 days through March 19, will incorporate realistic threats and lessons learned from recent conflicts to enhance the allies' readiness. Although there is no specific scenario for North Korea's use of nuclear weapons in this exercise, the allies are planning training focused on deterring nuclear threats. #USA#SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷🇺🇸US unlikely to increase tariffs on South Korea, Seoul official says South Korea's Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan on Sunday said the US is ​unlikely to slap higher tariffs on South ‌Korea should the Korean parliament move swiftly to implement investment legislation sought by the US next ​week as scheduled. Seoul has been in talks ​with Washington after US President Donald Trump ⁠threatened to hike tariffs on goods imported ​from South Korea to 25%, blaming a ​delay in the Asian ally's enactment of commitments to invest $350 billion in the US as agreed in a ​trade deal last year. South Korea's ruling ​Democratic ⁠Party will hold a vote on March 12 to pass a special bill to make investments in ⁠the ​US under the trade ​deal between the countries, the party's floor leader said on ​Wednesday. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics