ABSTRACT
During the Moon Jae-in administration, South Korea was hesitant to formally join the Indo-Pacific strategy as the articulation was to counterbalance China’s “assertiveness.” South Korea agreed with the objectives of the Indo-Pacific strategy and is ready to contribute to it through its New Southern Policy. South Korea has been hesitant to join the Indo-Pacific strategy because China has been its number one trading partner for almost two decades. South Korea also needs the support of China in its dealing with North Korea. Furthermore, South Korea might not be comfortable with Japan’s prominence in the Indo-Pacific strategy. So, South Korea’s approach towards the Indo-Pacific strategy during the Moon Jae-in government has primarily been to avoid the great power politics in the region and try to engage the Indo-Pacific countries through its more benign New Southern policy. It must also be emphasised that even though South Korea is not formally part of the Indo-Pacific strategy, its military alliance with the US means that in any final calculation, South Korea would go along with the US in any future strategy for the region.
