Hostname: page-component-669899f699-chc8l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-03T03:38:09.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

South Korea’s Foreign Policy Strategies in the Contemporary Era

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2025

Sojeong Lee  and
Krista E. Wiegand
Sojeong Lee
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Krista E. Wiegand*
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
*
Corresponding Author: Krista Wiegand; Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has made strengthening the alliance relationship with the United States a key part of his foreign policy positions. At the same time, South Korea continues to maintain a decent relationship with China, pursuing a precarious position to decide its role in the context of the growing US–China rivalry. The US has made the trilateral cooperation and close coordination among the US, South Korea, and Japan the centerpiece of its Indo-Pacific strategy, while South Korea and Japan have maintained their contentious relationship. The articles in this special issue address the challenges that South Korea faces today, focusing on two major themes in the contemporary era: first, how the US–China rivalry and power competition affect South Korea’s security and economic foreign policies, and second, how the bilateral tensions between South Korea and Japan affect regional security and alliance capabilities.

Keywords

South KoreaUnited StatesChinaJapanforeign policy strategyrivalryallianceterritorial disputeshistorical disputeseconomic securitypublic opinion
Type
Article
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , November 2024 , pp. 277 - 285
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The East Asia Institute

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bae, Chinsoo. 2012. “Territorial Issue in the Context of Colonial History and International Politics: The Dokdo Issue between Korea and Japan.” The Journal of East Asian Affairs 26 (1): 19–51.Google Scholar
Bong, Youngshik Daniel. 2013. “Built to Last: The Dokdo Territorial Controversy. The Baseline Conditions in Domestic Politics and International Security of Japan and South Korea.” Memory Studies 6 (2): 191–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bong, Youngshik Daniel. 2016. “The US–South Korea Alliance: Local, Regional, and Global Dimensions.” Asian Politics & Policy 8 (1): 39–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bukh, Alexander. 2016. “Korean National Identity, Civic Activism and the Dokdo/Takeshima Territorial Dispute,” Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs 3 (2): 183–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cha, Victor. 2020. “Leading by Example: Two Different Responses to China’s Rise.” The Interpreter, November 11, 2020. www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/leading-example-two-different-responses-china-s-rise. Last accessed on 12/05/2021.Google Scholar
Cho, Jinman, Kim, Hee Min, and Choi, Jung Young. 2009. “The Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute between Korea and Japan: Understanding the Whole Picture.” Pacific Focus 24 (3): 365–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choi, Sung-jae. 2005. “The Politics of the Dokdo Issue.” Journal of East Asian Studies 5 (3): 465–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choi, Young Jong. 2009. “South Korea’s Regional Strategy and Middle Power Activism.” The Journal of East Asian Affairs 23 (1): 47–67.Google Scholar
Choi, Youngmi. 2018. “A Middle Power’s Trade Policy under U.S.–China FTA Competition: South Korea’s Double Hedging FTA Diplomacy.” Contemporary Politics 24 (2): 233–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chung, Jae Ho. 2001. “South Korea Between Eagle and Dragon.” Asian Survey 41 (5): 777–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, Andrew F., and Mo, Jongryn R.. 2013. “Middle Power Leadership and the Evolution of the G20.” Global Summitry Journal 1 (1): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dudden, Alexis. 2008. Troubled Apologies Among Japan, Korea, and the United States. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easley, Leif-Eric. 2022. “Stabilizing Japan–Korea Relations: Restraining Nationalism, Appraising Beijing, Reassuring Washington.” The Pacific Review 36 (6): 1273–1305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easley, Leif-Eric and Park, Kyuri. 2018. “South Korea’s Mismatched Diplomacy in Asia: Middle Power Identity, Interests, and Foreign Policy.” International Politics, 55 (2): 242–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmers, Ralf. 2010. “Japan–Korea Relations and the Tokdo/Takeshima Dispute: The Interplay of Nationalism and Natural Resources.” RSIS Working Paper, No. 212. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University.Google Scholar
Fang, Songying, and Li, Xiaojun. 2022. “Southeast Asia under Great-Power Competition: Public Opinion About Hedging in the Philippines.” Journal of East Asian Studies 22 (3): 481–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fang, Songying, Li, Xiaojun, and Liu, Adam Y. 2022. “Chinese Public Opinion about US–China Relations from Trump to Biden.” The Chinese Journal of International Politics 15 (1): 27–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrier, Kyle. 2019. “Monetizing the Linchpin: Trump’s Foreign Policy versus the US–Korea Alliance’s Value to Washington.” Korea Economic Institute of America, Special Report No. 1, December 5. https://keia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Monetizing-the-Linchpin.pdf.Google Scholar
Heo, Uk, and Roehrig, Terence. 2014. South Korea’s Rise: Economic Development, Power, and Foreign Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huth, Paul, Kim, Sunwoong, and Roehrig, Terence, eds., The Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute South Korea: South Korea, Japan, and the Search for a Peaceful Solution (Leiden: Brill, 2021).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huynh, Tam-Sang. 2021. “Bolstering Middle Power Standing: South Korea’s Response to U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy from Trump to Biden.” Pacific Review 36 (1): 32–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hwang, Wonjae, and Ryou-Ellison, Hayoun Jessie. 2021. “Taking a Side between the United States and the People’s Republic of China: Strategic Hedging of South Korea and India.” International Area Studies Review 24 (2): 60–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hwang, Wonjae, Cho, Wonbin, and Wiegand, Krista E.. 2018. “Do Korean–Japanese Historical Disputes Generate Rally Effects?” Journal of Asian Studies 77 (3): 693–711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, David C., Leheny, David, and Cha, Victor D.. 2013. “Dialogue about Elections in Japan and South Korea,” The Journal of Asian Studies 72 (2): 233–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karim, Moch Faisal. 2018. “Middle Power, Status-seeking and Role Conceptions: The Cases of Indonesia and South Korea.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 72 (4): 343–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Claudia J. 2019. “Military Alliances as a Stabilizing Force: US Relations with South Korea and Taiwan, 1950s–1960s.” Journal of Strategic Studies 44 (7): 1–22.Google Scholar
Kim, Ji Young. 2015. “Rethinking the Role of Identity Factors: The History Problem and the Japan–South Korea Security Relationship in the Post-Cold War Period.” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 15: 477–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Sangbae. 2014. “Roles of Middle Power in East Asia: A Korean Perspective.” EAI Middle Power Diplomacy Initiative Working Paper 02. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://eai.or.kr/data/bbs/eng_report/20140203158563.pdfGoogle Scholar
Kwon, Edward. 2016. “Japan’s Territorial Claim to Korea’s Dokdo: The Voice of the National Diet,” Korea Observer 47 (2): 227–66.Google Scholar
Kwon, Edward, and Benham, Liza Abram. 2016. “Shinzo Abe’s Scheme of Staking Territorial Claims to Korea’s Dokdo,” The Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies 3 (1): 47–63.Google Scholar
Lee, Han Key. 1998. “Korea’s Territorial Rights to Tokdo in History and International Law.” Korea Observer 29 (1): 1–91.Google Scholar
Lee, Ji yun. 2017. “Hedging Strategies of the Middle Powers in East Asian Security: The Cases of South Korea and Malaysia.” East Asia 34 (1): 23–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Soo Hyung. 2009. “Middle Power Theory and Security and Foreign Policy of the Roh Moo-Hyun Government.” Journal of National Defense Studies 52 (1): 3–27.Google Scholar
Lee, Sook-Jong. 2012. “South Korea as New Middle Power Seeking Complex Diplomacy.” EAI Asia Security Initiative Working Paper, September.Google Scholar
Lim, Darren J., and Cooper, Zack. 2015. “Reassessing Hedging: The Logic of Alignment in East Asia.” Security Studies 24 (4): 696–727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, Bonny, Chase, Michael S., Blank, Jonah, Cooper, Cortez A. III, Grossman, Derek, Harold, Scott W., Jennifer, D. P. Moroney, Morris, Lyle J., Ma, Logan, Orner, Paul, Shih, Alice, and Kim, Soo. 2020. Regional Responses to U.S.–China Competition in the Indo-Pacific: Study Overview and Conclusions. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2020.Google Scholar
Meijer, Hugo. 2020. “Shaping China’s Rise: The Reordering of US Alliances and Defense Partnerships in East Asia.” International Politics 57 (2): 166–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moon, Chung-in, and Li, Chun-fu. 2010. “Reactive Nationalism and South Korea’s Foreign Policy on China and Japan: A Comparative Analysis.” Pacific Focus 25 (3): 331–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naito, Seichu. 2008. Territorial Issue Between Japan and Korea: Case of Takeshima/Dokdo. Tokyo: Sinkansha Publishing House, 2008.Google Scholar
Nam, Chang-hee. 2010. “The Alliance Transformation and US–Japan–Korea Security Network: A Case for Trilateral Cooperation.” Pacific Focus 25 (1): 34–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rozman, Gilbert. 2020. “Challenges to Biden’s Pursuit of Trilateralism.” The Asan Forum Special Forum, December 30. https://theasanforum.org/challenges-to-bidens-pursuit-of-trilateralism/.Google Scholar
Rozman, Gilbert and Shin-wha-Lee, . 2006. “Unraveling the Japan–South Korea ‘Virtual Alliance’: Populism and Historical Revisionism in the Face of Conflicting Regional Strategies.” Asian Survey 46 (5): 761–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shin, Soon-ok. 2016. “South Korea’s Elusive Middlepowermanship: Regional or Global Player?” The Pacific Review 29 (2): 187–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Scott, ed. 2012. The US–South Korea Alliance: Meeting New Security Challenges. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Scott. 2018. “Korea between the United States and China.” In South Korea at the Crossroads: Autonomy and Alliance in an Era of Rival Powers. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sohn, Yul. 2019. “South Korea under the United States–China Rivalry: Dynamics of the Economic-Security Nexus in Trade Policymaking.” The Pacific Review 32 (6): 1019–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Son, Key-young. 2014. “Middle Powers and the Rise of China: ‘Identity Norms’ of Dependency and Activism and the Outlook for Japan–South Korea Relations vis-à-vis the Great Powers.” Japanese Journal of Political Science 15 (1): 91–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiegand, Krista E. 2015. “The South Korean–Japanese Security Relationship and the Dokdo/Takeshima Islets Dispute.” The Pacific Review 28 (3): 347–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Xianfeng. 2020. “The Great Chinese Surprise: The Rupture with the United States is Real and Is Happening.” International Affairs 96 (2): 419–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, Jianren. 2019. “Power Transition and Paradigm Shift in Diplomacy: Why China and the US March towards Strategic Competition?” The Chinese Journal of International Politics 12 (1): 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar