South Korea as a Middle Power: The Growing Globalization of South Korean Foreign Policy in the 1990s

The confluence of the post-Cold War era and South Korea’s meteoric economic rise contributed to a diversification of its foreign policy. This chapter investigates the transformation of South Korean foreign policy, in the context of 'middle power theory', resulting from greater globalization and South Korea's new economic power. It looks at the extent to which South Korea works actively within the auspices of the United Nations in the area of multilateral and bilateral development assistance and peacekeeping support. The chapter examines the change in vision among South Korean diplomats and examines how this newfound activism benefits the emerging democratic South Korea. South Korean foreign policy exists at the cusp of globalization. Economic globalization, in the form of expanding trade, benefited the East Asian nations by promoting economic development and bringing about unprecedented modernization. The recent warming of relations with North Korea and Kim Dae Jung’s visit to Pyongyang likely presents new opportunities for South Korean diplomacy and foreign aid.