South Korea’s Perspectives on Geoeconomics

Abstract

South Korea has pursued a unique economic statecraft to navigate domestic and international challenges, among them achieving economic growth, while addressing the constant security threats posed by the division of North and South Korea, structural conditions that run through the country’s geoeconomics. To do so, South Korea has focused on upgrading its industrial structure and promoting its defense industry. South Korea’s economic statecraft has faced a variety of challenges, including balancing the Republic of Korea (ROK)-US relationship between entrapment and abandonment, coping with periodic economic crises, and dealing with rising security threats such as North Korea’s nuclear weapons development. US-China strategic competition in the twenty-first century and the global COVID-19 pandemic have ushered in an age of hyper-uncertainty. In response to this economic coercion and the proliferation of industrial policies, South Korea is seeking to shift to an inclusive economic statecraft that uses advanced technology as a nexus between the economy and security, pursues technological sovereignty to reduce external dependence, and seeks cooperation with like-minded countries.