South Korea’s Relations With China and the US Under President-elect Yoon
Niklas Swanström
Introduction:
The presidential election in South Korea was a close call. President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol from the People Power Party won the election with a margin of 0.8 percentage points over Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party. The election has been portrayed in the South Korean press as choosing the least unpopular candidate.
Any regular election in South Korea primarily focuses on domestic issues and this election was no different, even if some international issues played a role. That said, South Korea’s relations with China and its alliance with the United States will determine much of its future political and economic future, so it is always essential to understand how the new president will change his policy regarding China and the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
Yoon has been very clear that, as president, he will increase cooperation with democracies, especially the United States, and resist autocracies and the formation of an illiberal order, with China in the driving seat. This is very promising, but how much can president-elect Yoon accomplish with China being South Korea’s largest trading partner – accounting for 27 percent of its total exports in 2021 – and a domestic situation dependent on continuous economic progress. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the negative impact on energy resources and increased food prices globally will increase costs for households and keep down economic development, something that will further decrease the maneuvering space for the new administration.
Related Publications
-
South Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy: Ambitions and Reality
South Korea launched its Indo-Pacific Strategy, the so-called “Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region,” in December 2022. The strategy has rightly attracted widespread attention, not least because […]
-
North Korea Needs More International Partners to Weather Its Food Crisis
North Korea has long been one of the most isolated countries in the world, but its isolation became even more extreme amid the pandemic. The country has cut off its […]
-
Will Yoon’s Indo-Pacific Strategy Tackle the China Threat?
In late-December 2022, South Korea under the relatively new presidency of Yoon Suk-yeol effectively concluded its policy shift from “strategic ambiguity” by releasing the “Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and […]
-
Korean Peninsula Tensions Escalate Amid a Return to Old School Policies
Introduction: South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken on Monday in Washington, D.C. The meeting came three weeks after a summit meeting in Seoul between […]
-
What North Korea Thinks About the Russia-Ukraine War
Introduction: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised many new security concerns not only for Europe, but also for the rest of the world. In Northeast Asia, Russia’s proximity and strategic […]
-
Korean Peninsula Newsletter
The Stockholm Korea Center publishes a weekly newsletter where you can find the most recent informed analysis from prominent think tanks and catch announcements straight from DPRK media. You don’t […]