Formation and development of foreign policy ideology of the Republic of Korea

Abstract

This article explores the process of formation of foreign policy ideology of the Republic of Korea. The object of this research is the national ideology of the Republic of Korea, while the subject is the ideological concepts of its foreign policy. Analysis is conducted on the historical background, cultural and sociopolitical context, which affected the formation of South Korean ideology. The article describes the foreign policy concepts of the Republic of Korea, using the example of ideological course of the administrations of Lee Myung-Bak, Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-on. The author applies the comparative-historical and problem-chronological methods, as well as content analysis in examination of the texts of documents for determining conceptual grounds of foreign policy. The Russian Korean Studies do not feature comprehensive research on the topic of ideology in the sphere of foreign policy of the Republic of Korea, which defines the scientific novelty of this work. The following conclusions were formulated: 1) Historically, Korea was in a state of foreign policy dependency, which impacted the formation of nationalistic views among the political elite; 2) The peculiarities of development of the Republic of Korea led to the division of political forces into two main groups that vector the foreign policy within the framework of genera paradigm, characterized by nationalistic context and the strive to ensure sustainable development of the country and regional security; 3) The ideological concepts of political groups mark a number of differences in the attitude to the alliance with the United States and interaction with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. However, the implementation of foreign policy strategy of the Republic of Korea depends on a particular situation, thus the ideological course of foreign policy does not always reflect the real government actions. The ideological differences in foreign policy of the rightwing and leftwing forces become more conditional – the pragmatic objectives aimed at preservation of stable relations and balance of forces, as well as maintenance of regional security, come to the forefront.