Pro-Korea Democrats who stress the U.S.-South Korea alliance emerge as frontrunners to lead key foreign affairs and security committees in the U.S. Congress

[Financial News] Following the Democratic Party’s victory in the U.S. midterm elections, a large number of Democrats who understand the importance of the U.S.-South Korea alliance are set to chair the standing committees overseeing foreign affairs and security in both chambers. This means Congress may be able to exert some degree of control over President Donald Trump’s unilateral foreign policy moves.
The committees in the U.S. Congress considered to have a direct impact on South Korea include the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who won a fourth term, is the frontrunner to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has visited South Korea several times and also met President Lee Jae Myung in New York last September, when Lee was visiting the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Coons is also the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy.
He is well versed in East Asia and the U.S.-South Korea alliance, having, among other things, issued a statement opposing cuts to U.S. Forces Korea during the first Trump administration.
Senator Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat, is all but certain to become chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Reed, who chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee from 2021 to 2024, is well versed in military issues, including pressure over burden-sharing payments and the possibility of changing the role of U.S. Forces Korea. Last August, when President Trump ordered a major reduction in U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, Reed publicly criticized him, saying, “If President Trump scales back joint exercises to ingratiate himself with a dictator, or punishes South Korea for not joining a war he started, both our allies and adversaries will come to believe that America’s commitments are negotiable.”

In the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Armed Services Committee, pro-Korea lawmakers who have each previously chaired the respective committee are expected to take the helm. Representative Gregory Meeks, the committee’s top Democrat, is the frontrunner to chair the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He believes the United States prospers through cooperation with its allies and recognizes the importance of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. When he was elected chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2020, he said, “South Korea will have a friend in the U.S. House who appreciates the U.S.-South Korea alliance.”
Representative Adam Smith, a Democrat who has previously held the post, is also expected to return as chair of the House Armed Services Committee. He publicly criticized President Trump’s pressure on South Korea to increase its burden-sharing payments fivefold, saying excessive demands could create unnecessary tension in the alliance. Smith has spoken out in support of the importance of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, including the role of U.S. Forces Korea.
The chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific is likely to be Representative Ami Bera, the subcommittee’s top Democrat. Bera is a pro-Korea lawmaker who has taken a cooperative approach toward South Korea on Korea-related issues in the U.S. Congress.

It is a positive development that lawmakers who have a deep understanding of the U.S.-South Korea alliance are being placed in key positions on the U.S. Congress’s foreign affairs and security committees. But it remains unclear to what extent South Korea’s interests will be reflected. If South Korea is caught in the fallout from President Trump’s unilateral foreign policy moves, Congress is expected to be able to remind him of the importance of the alliance and help rein in his excesses.
Democrats, too, are considering how to shape relations with South Korea while placing emphasis on countering China. The need for lawmakers to take their constituents’ views into account is another factor. On issues including blocking cuts to U.S. Forces Korea or expanding its role, South Korea’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, the construction of U.S. warships in South Korea, and the transfer of wartime operational control, Democratic control of Congress could work either for or against South Korea, depending on the issue.
Democrats are also critical of President Trump’s willingness to resume U.S.-North Korea talks. They are expected to call for tougher sanctions on North Korea, criticize its human rights situation, and take a negative stance toward Trump’s approach to North Korea.
In the House Judiciary Committee, Republican Jim Jordan, who had led efforts to stir up public opinion that the South Korean government discriminates against U.S. companies, using Coupang as a vehicle, will step down as chair. Pressure on the South Korean government from the committee may ease.
[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Specialist Reporter