South Korea’s global geopolitical pivot

Nearly two years into the presidency of Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea has made a geopolitical pivot of potentially historic proportions.

The Yoon administration has firmly rejected the prioritization of engagement with North Korea that had been a foundation of the previous president Moon Jae-in’s progressive government, embarking on an increasingly confrontational approach to the Pyongyang regime.

In a similarly significant reversal, the current government has successfully pursued a rapprochement with neighboring Japan. Seoul has eschewed a focus on wartime history issues in favor of normalization and a growing trilateral partnership on regional and global policy with Japan and the United States.

Yoon has also taken a less accommodating approach to China, even leaning toward joining steps to contain its rise.

These moves have been set on a foundation of a strengthened security alliance with the United States, embodied in steps by the US to provide greater assurance of extended deterrence and in South Korea’s willingness to align itself with US strategic interests.

While the pivot in South Korean foreign and security policy is clearly a product of the change in political leadership in 2022, it does reflect to some degree a shift in public opinion.

Three recent polls conducted by the East Asia Institute (EAI) confirm that support for the South Korea-US alliance remains deep, with almost three-quarters of South Koreans holding favorable views of the United States.

At the same time, these polls also show growing unfavorable views of China. Improvement of relations with Japan also garners increasing support, though this is mostly seen as a part of building ties to the US.

With North Korea, Yoon has unambiguously tied an