Lee Myung-bak was blindsided by the protests against the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. And no wonder. Having won an electoral mandate to improve relations with his country’s main ally just weeks earlier, he could not have expected a marginal protest movement which transparently distorted the risks of U.S. beef imports to turn the trade pact into an emotional issue of food safety. As we went to press, the protests were growing smaller, but more militant; unions were calling for a general strike.

As Don Kirk writes in this issue, Mr. Lee contributed to the problem with his usual “bulldozer” approach to opposition. That may have worked as mayor of Seoul. But South Korea is famous for chewing up and spitting out once-popular presidents. Mr. Lee seems to have learned this lesson, and has repeatedly apologized and worked with the U.S. to reassure the Korean public that American beef is safe. To his credit, he is now moving ahead again with his agenda.

Bernard Gordon lays part of the blame on the FTA process itself. Multilateral trade deals through the World Trade Organization are not only economically sound in that they do not distort trade flows, they also tend to diffuse tensions by giving each country a broad range of incentives to ratify, as well as the loss of many markets if it does not. By pushing bilateral deals, Washington sacrificed global leadership and made itself a fat, juicy target for protectionist interests across Asia.

Evans Revere, president of the New York-based Korea Society, looks at the damage to the critical U.S.-R.O.K. alliance and how to make repairs. South Koreans recognize that they live in a dangerous neighborhood, and the importance of maintaining a credible security relationship with Washington trumps all other concerns. But at the same time, the next U.S. president should realize, they do not want to feel that the U.S. is using that leverage to take advantage of them on other fronts.

Meanwhile governments elsewhere in Asia are also embattled. This month we bring you updates on the domestic politics of Thailand and Malaysia, where in very different ways, reformist forces are trying to undo the social compacts that underpinned stability for decades.

Everywhere strife is exacerbated by the rising price of fuel. Jonathan Anderson and Charles De Trenck analyze the effect this is having on the general price level and the region’s export growth engine. The good news is that an inflationary spiral is not yet inevitable, as long as food prices stabilize, but faltering demand from developed countries is exacerbating the slowdown in trade.

H.R.