South Korea and America’s Indo-Pacific Strategy: Yes, But Not Quite

Abstract

In a call with South Korean President Jae-In Moon on 11 November 2020, the United States President-elect Joe Biden emphasised that South Korea represented the “lynchpin of the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.” It is too soon to comment on any possible variations that will appear in American policy towards Asia yet. But it seems likely that the “Indo-Pacific Strategy” – as detailed in the Department of Defense’s 2019 Indo-Pacific Strategy Report (IPSR) and State Department’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) document – enjoys bipartisan support and will thus remain the centerpiece of US engagement with the region. This is also currently the consensus view among the Korean media and expert community. Like many ASEAN member states, South Korea has sought to avoid “choosing sides” between China and the United States. It has adopted an uneasy equidistance between the two great powers and their respective Indo-Pacific Strategy and Belt and Road Initiative power plays.