This report discusses relations between the United States and South Korea (known officially as the Republic of Korea, or ROK), which have been arguably at their best state in decades. In the Obama Administration, South Korea had emerged as the United States’ closest ally in East Asia.

This report begins with a discussion of the complex supply chains that now underlie automotive production. It then explains the procedures established in the KORUS FTA for determining whether an automotive product qualifies as being of South Korean or United States origin and compares those procedures to the rules established in the free trade agreement between South Korea and the European Union. Finally, it discusses whether the domestic content rules in the KORUS FTA could enable circumvention of the rules of origin by allowing automotive components produced in North Korea’s Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) to enter the United States duty-free in assembled motor vehicles, and thereby receive the benefits provided by the agreement.

Interview with Hyei-ok "Hannah" Lee, a jeweler and immigrant to Texas from Seoul, Korea. Lee discusses growing up and her education, her family, her children's schooling, traditional Korean family structure, and cultural differences and similarities. In appendix are photographs of items in Lee's home discussed in the interview, and explanations of cultural customs mentioned.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas relating a news story.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story.

Photocopy of a script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story.

Interview with Jeffrey Gill, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who served as a staff sergeant from 1995-2002 in Korea and Saudi Arabia. Gill describes his time as a hazmat technician, as well as the most and least memorable moments of his military career.

A report that discusses the security threat of North Korea with particular focus on nuclear weapons and technology.

South Korea has become a mid-level economy with a growing consumer market and industrial base. It now is in transition. It can no longer compete easily in low-wage, low-technology manufacturing with other countries of Asia, yet it does not have the technology and expertise to compete fully with industries from Japan, the United States, and Europe.

This report is designed to assist Members of Congress as they consider the costs and benefits of the U.S.-South Korean Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA.) It examines the provisions of the KORUS FTA in the context of the overall U.S.-South Korean economic relationship, U.S. objectives, and South Korean objectives.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story about president Chung Hee Park of south Korea who escaped as assassin' s bullets by dropping down behind the speaker' s desk at an independence day rally in Seoul.

Letter to the press about the USS Anzio (CVE-57) and the experiences of her crew in the Pacific Theater from her commission in August, 1943 to the end of the war in September, 1945.