South Korea’s Wild Ride: The Big Shifts in Foreign Policy from 2013 to 2022

By: Gilbert Rozman and Sue Mi Terry and Eun A Jo

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Synopsis: Rozman, Terry, and Jo analyze the geopolitical shifts in South Korea’s policies toward its neighbors and allies over the course of the Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in administrations into the early years of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. 2013 to 2022 was a tumultuous decade in South Korean politics and especially in its foreign policy. Through two changes of its own presidency, as well as the rise and fall of the Trump administration in the United States, South Korea’s politicians and diplomats have pursued different attempts at bridge-building with North Korea, before arriving at a more cautious and defensive position. The authors track the different attempts by Park and Moon to pursue increasingly optimistic attempts at reconciliation, and how they were thwarted by excessive idealism, domestic divisions, and broader great power rivalries—notably including Russia, China, and Japan. An essential guide to understanding the trajectory of South Korean foreign policy, for students of Korean politics as well as scholars and policy practitioners.