► the conundrum is that an international system that has become unhinged requires more multilateral governance precisely at a time when the institutional mechanisms for this are at best contested and in many cases broken. ► South Korea has largely missed out on the recent minilateral expansion exemplified by the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), the Australia-UK-US trilateral (AUKUS), and a hos...

► In its first-ever Indo-Pacific strategy, Seoul committed to strengthening a regional rules-based order to protect freedom, democracy, and human rights. The document expands on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s earlier pledges to assume greater responsibility for defending democratic principles and is consistent with the U.S. and Japanese national security strategies. ► Since his inauguration, Yoon Suk Ye...

► South Korea’s December 28 release of its Indo-Pacific Strategy received an early endorsement from U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who described the strategy as “a reflection of our shared commitment to the region’s security and growing prosperity.” South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin referred to the strategy as the “de facto foreign policy doctrine” of the Yoon Suk Yeol administr...

► The Yoon administration’s new Indo-Pacific strategy liberates the Republic of Korea from a slavish devotion to North Korea policy. By pivoting from the peninsula to the Indo-Pacific, South Korea stakes a powerful claim as a global pivotal state. ► While Seoul is among the last of America’s allies to publish an Indo-Pacific vision, there is a great deal to admire in South Korea’s inaugural reg...

► At the 23rd ASEAN-Republic of Korea (ROK) Summit on 11 November 2022 in Cambodia, President Yoon Suk Yeol outlined South Korea’s Indo-Pacific strategy. ► Yoon’s speech is the latest in a series of indications that – as then presidential campaign advisor and current National Security Advisor Kim Sung-han said – Seoul is moving away from “strategic ambiguity” to “strategic clarity” amid China-U...

► The prospect of a South Korean Indo-Pacific Strategy for ASEAN will depend on how the Strategy would be framed as well as the actual elements of the strategy.   ► It is important for ASEAN countries that South Korea continues to maintain a delicate balance between the U.S. and China to remain on the same page with the region’s strategic outlook and to continue building on NSP strength whi...

► The changing geostrategic environment in the region has broadened South Korea’s attention. The rise of China has become a key factor in this development. In response to this development, the United States has paid more attention to the region since the Obama administration to rebalance the regional order.   ►The push for the new Indo-Pacific strategy continues to be a policy reality South Kore...

►Australia and South Korea are middle powers in the region, are treaty allies of the US, and count China as their biggest trading partner. Despite these parallels, the Indo–Pacific concept has played markedly different roles in the foreign and security policies of the two countries.   ►For Australia the Indo–Pacific has become what prominent security analysis Graeme Dobell has termed the ‘reignin...

► An Indo-Pacific strategy would help Korea fulfill its role as a global pivot state (GPS) using a global strategy that corresponds to an era highlighted by a new Cold War between the United States and China. And it is within this larger strategic framework that Korea’s Northeast Asia strategy and Korean Peninsula strategy must be reformulated.   ► Korean government must clearly outline its...

  ► Korea’s own Indo-Pacific strategy should emphasize the importance of universal values such as “rule of law,” “freedom of navigation,” and “openness and inclusiveness” in the regional context.    ► Korea’s Indo-Pacific strategy paper must reflect its strategic thinking regarding the scope of Indo-Pacific region, its active willingness to engage in the region’s non-trad...