ABSTRACT

South Korea’s perceptions and approaches concerning the trade–security nexus have changed over time. From one perspective, South Korea’s trade and security are more connected to each other than ever before against the backdrop of fluid geo-strategic and geo-economic conditions surrounding the Korean Peninsula. As is true of other countries in the region, South Korea has actively pursued free trade agreements (FTAs) for a variety of strategic and diplomatic purposes, from confidence-building among countries with little contact with one another, to winning diplomatic points over regional rivals, to establishing an international legal personality, to locking extra-regional powers—such as the United States and the European Union (EU)—into the region. If we look beneath the surface, the postwar South Korean trade–security nexus has undergone significant changes, especially over the past two decades.