Why on earth is America like this?
The answer lies in the rapidly changing international order!
Kim Jun-hyung, the country's top foreign affairs expert
A one-volume international politics course

Donald Trump is once again President of the United States, having won re-election in 2024.
Since then, the news of American policy delivered through Trump's mouth has been enough to shock not only Korea but also countries around the world.
All sorts of outrageous remarks were made against other sovereign nations, including allies, and absurd news about a country's external actions, such as imposing tariffs of up to 3521% and then withdrawing them, filled the news every day.
In these times when the question, "Why on earth is America like this?" naturally arises, Kim Jun-hyung, former president of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and Korea's leading foreign affairs expert, emphasizes that understanding the United States today requires understanding the rapidly changing flow of international politics.
The (re)emergence of the figure of Trump is not a simple aberration or an anomaly, but rather a cause, a consequence, and at the same time a driving force behind the ongoing global fragmentation.
The seventh book in Changbi's humanities and liberal arts series, "100 Grams of Liberal Arts," "America's Betrayal and the Shaking World," interprets the newly reorganized international order as a continuous flow, analyzes why America's response strategy has turned out to be a failure, and seeks a path for Korea to take within it.
This book will provide key insights for readers who want to look beyond the Trump phenomenon and broaden their perspective on international politics and consider practical alternatives from Korea's perspective.

Although it's a thin and light book, it contains profound and weighty questions about how to understand the nature of the changing international order and what preparations and choices we must make for our future.
I will try to give a careful and rigorous answer to this question.
I hope this book will alleviate some of the readers' worries and concerns about how we should live in a world shaken by America's betrayal, and serve as a starting point for efforts to properly understand the current changes.
--- From "Introduction"

In early March 2024, I left behind my 25-year career as a university professor and suddenly, but boldly, embarked on a new path as a member of the National Assembly.
I couldn't stand by and watch as Yoon Seok-yeol's forces ruined Korean diplomacy.
I was anxious because I thought that since diplomacy involves a counterparty, once it was ruined, it would be difficult to restore it no matter how hard one side tried.
My time in the National Assembly, which lasted less than a year, was a turbulent time, as if I had experienced more than I would in ten years, but it was meaningful in that I played even a small role in the making of history.
Lifting martial law on December 3rd and passing the impeachment motion on December 14th was a great accomplishment, and I felt that I had made the right choice to become a member of the National Assembly.
--- p.5~6

One of the huge events that symbolizes this upheaval we are experiencing is Trump (D.
(Trump) You could say it's the emergence of the US President.
What I'm going to tell you today is that Trump's rise is not a mere coincidence.
Of course, this could be explained as a shocking deviation and an exceptional event, the appearance of a monster, and there are quite a few people who say so.
But in my view, Trump is both a cause and an effect of the changes in the current international order, and at times a catalyst that accelerates those changes.
It may seem as if Yoon Seok-yeol's internal rebellion, which occurred in late 2024, suddenly occurred after 45 years, but it actually clearly reveals the problems inherent in our society.
--- p.16

The 'New Cold War' is a provocative term referring to the US-China hegemony competition, but I believe that the current situation is completely different in nature from the Cold War of the past.
Rather, this is probably the most accurate term to describe the world today.
Fragmentation.
(…) That is, the struggle of all against all is at work today not only in individual countries but also in international politics.
Therefore, fragmentation refers to an order in which each country prioritizes survival and profit.
This means that compromise for cooperation between nations will disappear, and we will enter an era of fierce competition in a negative-sum game where each country's interests are detrimental to its own.
When nationalism and exclusive nationalism become so prevalent, the possibility of not only economic conflict but also armed conflict increases.
--- p.37~38

The New York Times even commented in a column that “Trump has destroyed the order that America has worked so hard to build for 80 years in just 50 days.”
The problem is that although the United States is still the world's most powerful nation, it lacks the hegemonic ability to lead the entire world, let alone the will to do so, and is determined to pursue national egoism.
--- p.49

However, the ROK-US alliance is so strongly entrenched within us as a symbol of peace that whenever inter-Korean relations improve, we worry about the alliance weakening, a paradoxical situation arises.
Whenever progressive governments attempted to achieve inter-Korean cooperation, they inevitably faced criticism that they were undermining the ROK-US alliance, and this had a strong impact on the public.
--- p.65

But Trump's time is limited.
When a typhoon comes, sometimes if you hold out until it passes, it will pass.
Developing the power to endure may be the next government's greatest mission of the times.
This is not simply a monstrous trait of Trump's personal character, but, as we have discussed, a major trend unfolding in this turbulent period of world history.
--- p.75

We've analyzed the storm of Trumpism so far, but the only thing that can truly stop its harm is an awakening from within.
No matter how much America's national power has declined, there is still no country that can defeat the United States in a confrontation.
If so, the most effective and desirable way to stop Trump's unilateralism, racism, and anti-democratic policies is through the democratic struggle of American citizens.
In fact, American citizens began to rise up.
On April 5, 2025, the day after our Constitutional Court impeached Yoon Seok-yeol, millions of citizens took to the streets across the United States under the slogan “Hands Off.”
In American history, the civil rights movement of the 1960s is the most recent resistance.
They cry out that America has been struggling for democracy for too long and that it is time to learn from the remarkable democratic resilience that has occurred in South Korea.

--- p.81~82