The Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance has endured for more than seven decades because it has always been about more than money. Yet today, there is a danger that both Washington and Seoul are losing sight of that fundamental truth. Public criticism, transactional diplomacy and domestic politics are beginning to overshadow the strategic value of one of the most successful alliances of the postwar era. There is an important cultural dimension to this problem. Public criticism and public pressure do not work particularly well in Asia. Face, respect and the manner in which disagreements are handled still matter. This does not mean avoiding difficult conversations. Allies must speak frankly with each other. But there is an important difference between frankness and public humiliation. China has repeatedly learned this lesson the hard way. Its economic and diplomatic pressure on Korea may sometimes have produced short-term effects, but coercion has also generated lasting resentment. Bullying can force a country to calculate the immediate costs of resistance, but it rarely creates genuine frien