Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, Global Polarisation and Yoon’s Security Strategy

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the escalation in the US-China rivalry have exacerbated the existing political and strategic polarisation in Northeast Asia and in the wider Indo-Pacific region. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has reacted by promoting foreign and security strategies based on a peculiar, and in many respects innovative, interpretation of South Korea’s foreign policy tradition he has articulated in several axis: a stronger alliance with the United States, and the adoption of the concept of “Global Pivotal State”, the investment in the strategic triangle with the United States and Japan, a new Indo-Pacific Strategy as well as a more active engagement with NATO and EU member states, in particular in the defence sector.

Revised version of a paper presented at the conference on “New Convergences in EU-ROK Economic Security Relations”, organised in Rome on 30 January 2024 by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI).