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Intoduction
South Korea has experienced a significant advancement toward its political influences in the international level. This state successfully increse its GDP growth rate for over two decades, where they also face economic crisis in the 1997 that forced them to make an alternative income beside manufacturing industries. Moreover, South Korea ranked as the top 5 strongest military state that holds score of 0.1642 PowerIndex in the early 2026 (2026 South Korea Military Strength, n.d.). Within these advancements, South Korea recently recognized as a middle power state which have a significant influence through diplomatic relations, yet the power remain under the super power one, but higher than lower powers.
As a middle power state, South Korea is a pivotal state, since the massive of Korea Wave initiation’s spread around the world, which influence both its domestical economy, or even other states’ economy condition. This significant advancement led South Korea to be an ideal bridge-builder toward major power, especially they had been experienced a de-escalating conflict with states in the region, such as South China Sea dispute, Japanese historical textbook conflict, and of course the high tension with North Korea (Abbondanza, 2022). Additionally, this excelent cxcelent diplomatic capability brings a way more advancements to South Korea toward other agreements, not only bilateral, but also significantly influence multilateral relations toward international organizations.
In detail, South Korea has been joining for over 91 international organizations since 2018 (대한민국 국가지도집, n.d.). This statistic defines that beside this state has a capability to do multilateral cooperations, they also view that multilateral agreements bring opportunities for them. In short, South Korea utilize its global role toward international organizations to reach their main interests in politics, economy, or even cultural spread.
An Ideal Dispute Settlement Body: South Korea as Conflict Mediator
As a member of thrilateral cooperation in China-Japan-South Korea thrilateral summit, South Korea plays a significant role in shaping Eastern Asia economic development, strenghten regional politics, and as an effective dispute settlement. South Korea sees that this cooperations is vital in defending regional norms, as Cho Jae-woo, a professor of foreign policy at Kyung Hee University in Seoul said that tt has been a kind of tradition for progressive parties in South Korea to try to be the broker for peace in tense situations in the region, going back to the time of Kim Dae-jung (South Korea’s Lee Steps up as Asia Peacemaker, n.d.), Additionally, South Korea is also ready to be an intercontinental dispute settlement between the US and North Korea, since North Korea does not accept the denuclearization policy from the US. These initiations proved that South Korea is not just developed in their domestic affairs, but also put a high effort to maintain its identity as a good dispute settlement body.
Multilateral Agreement as an Economic Opportunity
South Korea sees international institutions as an opportunity to develop its economic condition. By utilizing the success of Hallyu, South Korea has more than 225 million Hallyu enjoyers around the world that rationalize the strategy of expanding this cultural wave using international institutions such as the establishment of ASEAN-ROK summit. This summit does not only focus on the cultural expansion, but also a huge manufacturing trade between South Korea and ASEAN states, which approximately benefits these states for more than $1 trillion in GDP (Korea, Rep. | Data, n.d.). This pragmatic practices by South Korea clearly shows a flexible, yet beneficial role in global diplomatic level.
Conclusion
South Korea has been developing its foreign policy’s strategies toward global actors in order to fulfil their interest and be a global balancer. This behavior can be seen through the capability of this state in maintaining their diplomatic strategy, which often called as a middle power state. Through the opportunities of international organizations, South Korea succeed to utilize their capabilities to gain a maximum benefit toward agreements, both bilateral or multilateral. Additionally, being a member of these organizations, South Korea is also strengthen their global identity by becoming an ideal dispute settlement body and a pragmatic economic partnership state.
Writer: Andoro Arya Seno (202410360110119)
Bibliography
2026 South Korea Military Strength. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2026, from https://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.php?country_id=south-korea
Abbondanza, G. (2022). Whither the Indo-Pacific? Middle power strategies from Australia, South Korea and Indonesia. International Affairs, 98(2), 403–421. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiab231
GDP (current US$) – Korea, Rep. | Data. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2026, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=KR&most_recent_value_desc=true
South Korea’s Lee steps up as Asia peacemaker. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2026, from https://www.dw.com/en/south-koreas-lee-steps-up-as-asia-peacemaker/a-75113360
대한민국 국가지도집. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2026, from http://nationalatlas.ngii.go.kr/pages/page_2023.php
