Populism spells danger in South Korean foreign policy

Abstract

Subject The impact of populist politics on South Korean foreign policy. Significance The major foreign policy initiatives of Park Geun-hye's administration have failed to achieve headway and are unlikely to. Structural weaknesses make foreign policy reactive and short-term, inhibit consideration of longer-term strategies and make leaders more susceptible to populism. Impacts Seoul has the technical capability to acquire nuclear weapons; the barriers are political. Discussion of nuclear armament by an erstwhile champion of non-proliferation will weaken the global non-proliferation regime. Washington already faces an alliance management challenge in the Philippines; populism in South Korea could create another.