KEI Contributor – Sea Young (Sarah) Kim

On August 13, South Korea and Vietnam celebrated the completed construction of the Vietnam-Korea Cooperation Center for Smart City and Construction Technology (VKC) in Hanoi. The VKC is symbolic in that it represents renewed bilateral cooperation following the COVID-19 pandemic and because it has withstood a shift in South Korean administrations. The center was initially…

South Korea’s rapprochement with Japan and North Korea’s embrace of Russia significantly shaped events on the Korean Peninsula in 2023. Both promise to have a substantial impact on events in the coming year. After years of declining relations, South Korea took the initiative to mend ties with Japan by proposing a path for resolving the…

A year has passed since Korea published its “Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region” in December 2022. Since then, Korea has strived to bolster its image as a “global pivotal state” in both mending and fortifying relations with like-minded nations including the United States, Japan, the European Union, Australia, ASEAN, and others.…

Last December, South Korea and Vietnam commemorated their 30th diplomatic anniversary by upgrading the bilateral relations from a ‘strategic partnership’ to a ‘comprehensive and strategic partnership (CSP).’ South Korea represents a notable case as the first middle power to establish such relations with Vietnam, following China, Russia, and India. While economic, technological, and security cooperation…