diplomacy and security
A path to break away from the previous system, the competition is one-sided
When to expand into an economic defense alliance
Biggest seismic shift to be expected since the Korean War
Foreign and security policies need bipartisan support
▲ Soldiers from the Phoenix Battalion of the 23rd Guards Brigade carry out a precision reconnaissance of a hand-made boat in the coastal area of Gopo.
In 2023, the second year of the Yoon Seok-yeol government’s ‘diplomacy and security’ must hold the key of choice for the national interest in the vast sea where the wave of the new Cold War has risen.
Amidst the threat of nuclear war and inflation due to the conflict between the US and China and the ongoing war in Ukraine, South Korea is sailing towards the distant destination of denuclearization and the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula as an anchor to a ‘global central state’. Under three years old, the Yoon government announced an Indo-Pacific strategy and was moving closer to the US, but dark clouds were overshadowed by the development of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capabilities and the possibility of a 7 nuclear test. Although this year marks the 70th anniversary of the ROK-US alliance, China and Russia claim their roles as North Korean refugees in the international community, including the United Nations, and there are many diplomatic and security issues to consider. , such as economic security and improving Korea-Japan relations.
In the new year, foreign affairs and security experts diagnosed that “foreign policy on the Korean Peninsula will inevitably come to a situation where we will inevitably have to choose one side between the two rivers of the United States and China, and we must seek a strategy that maximizes national interests.” Attention is drawn to the fact that it is time to establish a new concept of diplomacy and economic security, and break away from the ‘strategic ambiguity’ of diplomacy used by previous governments and reveal ‘strategic clarity’.
Voices call for a comprehensive strategic response by expanding the traditional concept of a security alliance to an economic defense alliance. Choi Won-mok, a professor at Ewha Womans University School of Law, said on the 1st, “The global trend to build a supply chain that focuses on one’s own country as well as the United States and China is its peak.” There is a tendency ,” he criticized. “The government’s failure in foreign affairs and security is at a serious level,” he said.
The Yoon administration presented North Korea with a “bold idea,” a road map for denuclearization, but North Korea responded with a series of ICBM launches and legislation on nuclear force. As the United States begins the 2024 presidential race after last year’s mid-term elections, it is expected that North Korea will view the possibility of dialogue with the Joe Biden administration negatively. As a result, North Korea’s peripheral tactics can be further sharpened. Lim Han-taek, an adviser at the International Law Center at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, predicted that “the world economy is uncertain and security crises are overlapping.
The United States wants South Korea to stand prominently on one side of the extension of its humanitarian strategy to keep China in check. On the other hand, China, which claims to be behind North Korea, continues its conflict front against South Korea, the United States and Japan in terms of security and economy. In the value conflict related to human rights and democracy, such as the issue of Taiwan and Xinjiang Uyghur, the front of the conflict of ‘liberalism versus authoritarianism’ is expected to be extended.
Moon Il-hyeon, a professor at the Chinese University of Political Science and Law, pointed out that, “While respecting China’s national interests, we need to take care of strategic interests to be gained from China. Former Canadian Ambassador Cho Hee-yong, who has extensive experience in diplomacy with the United States and China, said, “Core foreign and security policies must go beyond partisan competition (party warfare) and gain bipartisan support from the people. ” “We need to be able to express ourselves at any time in order to increase our diplomatic power and avoid being used adversely in a conflict between South and South.”
Reporter Lee Jae-yeon in Seoul and Ryu Ji-young reporter in Beijing
