Foreign Relations

South Korean–Middle Eastern relations have been neglected in the literature throughout the years, mainly owing to the focus on Korea’s relations with the United States and Asian states and the…

An old Korean proverb says that when two whales fight it is the shrimps whose backs are crushed. Maybe that proverb best describes Korea’s situation on the trade front these…

Geography alone would give Russia a prominent role in the Korean peninsula. The Russian Federation currently shares a recently demarcated 17-kilometer common border along the Tumen River with the Democratic…

Science diplomacy refers to international scientifi c cooperation aimed simultaneously at advancing scientifi c knowledge and improving and strengthening broader relations between participating countries and groups. Science diplomacy has proved…

South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan is part of the national agenda. In its efforts to win the expo, Seoul is looking to leverage its strengths, including its business networks and naming BTS as official ambassadors, to make up ground in what may be a long shot bid against the…

At the end of July, the Yoon government announced its intention to relax South Korea’s prohibition on North Korea media. In a statement published on 22 July, the Unification Ministry said it would work to "restore ethnic homogeneity by enhancing mutual understanding and consensus between the two Koreas through phased opening of mass media that…

Following his inauguration in May 2022, President Yoon Suk Yeol announced that his administration would devise South Korea’s own Indo-Pacific strategy, which would consequently take the place of his predecessor’s New Southern Policy. The exact details of the strategy are yet to be announced, but South Korea’s past and ongoing foreign engagements provide an initial…

In May of this year, the United States introduced a draft UN Security Council Resolution (S/2022/431) that would have responded to a North Korean ICBM test on March 24. By chance, the formal Chinese and Russian rejection of the proposal—which included additional sanctions on Pyongyang--came in the wake of a landmark decision taken by the…