Seoul: From reasserting American heft in the Western Hemisphere to prioritizing Taiwan's defense and omitting the North Korean denuclearization goal, key elements of the new U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) are raising questions over what they mean for South Korea's security and its role in a regional context.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the White House released the NSS on Thursday, declaring a plan to enforce President Donald Trump's version of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, symbolic of American isolationism, and asserting the need for Seoul and Tokyo to build capabilities to defend the First Island Chain, a key perimeter for America's preeminence against China in the Pacific, while mentioning nothing about North Korea.

The 33-page document was released at a time when Seoul and Washington are pushing to "modernize" their alliance in a way that would increase South Korea's role in its own defense and its contributions to addressing "regional" threats, potentially including security challenges from an assertive China.