Author: Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Kings College London Does South Korea have an Indo-Pacific strategy of its own? Seoul is grappling with this question as the
Author: Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Kings College London
Does South Korea have an Indo-Pacific strategy of its own? Seoul is grappling with this question as the concept, first popularised by Indian strategist Gurpreet S Khurana over a decade ago, gains in prominence. Even though South Korea does not have an explicit Indo-Pacific policy, different elements of its foreign policy are coming together to shape a South Korean approach to the region.
Seoul’s recent interest in the Indo-Pacific concept reflects long-standing foreign policy priorities. Dating back to the 1990s, but more clearly and consistently since the Lee Myung-bak years from 2008–13, South Korea has sought to become a middle power with foreign policy interests beyond Northeast Asia. President Lee sought to make Seoul a more prominent player and balancer in East Asia. Afterwards, president Park Geun-hye launched the Eurasia Initiative to involve South Korea in Eurasian connectivity projects.
Under current President Moon Jae-in, South Korea is prioritising Southeast Asia and India as much as Eurasia. Moon’s New Southern Policy — an effort to increase economic and cultural cooperation with ASEAN, and economic and security cooperation with India — is a key tenet of his administration’s foreign policy. Moon himself has already visited Singapore and Vietnam twice and India, Indonesia and the Philippines once since taking office in May 2017.
Originally conceived as a commercial endeavour, the economic component of the policy has recently increased in strategic significance due to discussions with the United S tates regarding South Korean participation in Washington’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy. The Trump administration wants South Korea to sign up to the infrastructure, energy and development projects that it plans to implement throughout the region.
