Why did South Korea invite Pacific leaders to a summit, and why did they go?

Abstract

Like its closest ally, the United States, and its partners, including Australia, Japan and India, Korea recently adopted an ‘Indo-Pacific’ strategy, which has encouraged it to focus more on the ‘Pacific’ part of that region. In its Strategy for a free, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, released in December 2022, the Korean government said that it planned on ‘increasing our engagement with the Pacific Island Countries with whom we share the Pacific Ocean’. It later joined the US, Australia and others in the Partners in the Blue Pacific initiative, intended to better coordinate partner assistance. Greater engagement with Korea also offers Pacific island countries another partnership option as they navigate the increasingly polarised strategic environment.