Publication

Feb 2017

This paper explores South Korea’s strategic and foreign policy options, which are restrained by great power rivalries in its region and an always troublesome North Korea. The text’s authors ultimately conclude that Seoul should 1) continue to hedge against the US-China rivalry by ‘playing on both sides of the fence’; 2) push for the creation of regional security mechanisms, but also reserve the right to join others in offsetting China’s hegemonic aims; and 3) reassure the US that it shares its broader interests, although in a necessarily ‘flexible’ way.

Download English (PDF, 22 pages, 562 KB)
Author Scott Snyder, Darcie Draudt, Sungtae Park
Series CFR Reports
Publisher Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
Copyright © 2017 The Council on Foreign Relations
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