Foreign policy recommendations for government

By Ahn Ho-young

2022 is going to be a year of important elections in a large number of countries around the world. In Korea, we are going to have a presidential election in March, which is less than two months away.

Given the grave security and economic risks surrounding Korea presently, the new government will face daunting challenges from day one. It will thus have to focus intensely on two key foreign policy goals relating to the issue of peace and prosperity with a sense of urgency.

When the Cold War came to an end in the 1990s, there was a euphoric expectation about lasting peace. Thirty years on, we now worry about a new Cold War. The inconvenient truth is that Northeast Asia has emerged as a region with the gravest of security challenges. Five of the six strongest military powers confront one another in Northeast Asia, as the Global Firepower report gloomily reminds us.

North Korea commits all available resources to the development of nuclear weapons and delivery systems, making some Korean commentators question the credibility of U.S. extended deterrence for Korea.

What's to be done? The new government must approach North Korea on the basis of firm principles. We must keep the door open for diplomacy. However, we must make North Korea understand that South Korea cannot compromise her national security in the process.

We have long talked about the necessity of significantly strengthening our strike and missile defense capabilities. The new government must now turn words to action. Experiences dealing with North Korea have taught us that appeasement does not lead to peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Second, the new government must clarify the importance it attaches to the alliance with the U.S. In the process of Korea's development over the past several decades, it greatly helped that the U.S. had unique characteristics as a global leader.

The importance the country attached to universal values of human rights, rule of law and openness, its commitment to practice these values in international relations and lack of territorial ambition ― all of these made what Joseph Nye has appropriately defined as the soft power of the U.S.

These values have now come to define Korea as a nation as much as they do the U.S. This has happened over the past several decades, during which time Korea has successfully distinguished itself as an example of a nation benefiting from a relatively benign international environment thereby developing its economy, achieving democratization and enhancing its global status.

This momentum must be maintained through the upgrading of the alliance with the U.S., in which Korea should play a bigger role for international peace and prosperity, including humanitarian assistance, fighting the pandemic and climate change. In fact, the U.S. has consistently invited Korea to move in that direction. A good example is the joint statement between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden issued in May last year.

Third, given Korea's geopolitical and geo-economic situation, Korea must continue with omni- directional diplomacy. I have to add that this must be based on a rock-solid alliance with the U.S.

We have been obsessed for far too long with the so-called strategic ambiguity between the U.S. and China. For reasons I have often repeated through this column, this will only lead to Korea losing credibility with both the U.S. and China.

With respect to Japan, I cannot overemphasize the importance of both countries' sticking to the "firewall" between the issues of history and other security and economic issues. It is in the past several years that leaders in both countries ignored the firewall, and the price has been a free fall in our bilateral relations.

With respect to ASEAN neighbors, they are far closer to Korea than we realize, in terms of ever expanding economic, security and personnel exchanges. It was in 2012 that Korea became one of the few countries to open a permanent mission to ASEAN in Jakarta, Indonesia.

At the time, ASEAN members welcomed this decision by Korea enthusiastically, and sent a delegation to Seoul consisting of all ASEAN permanent representatives. I recall welcoming the delegation to Seoul as a vice foreign minister, and telling them that "ASEAN is the pride of Asia."

With respect to the EU and the U.K., we presently observe their deeper engagement in the Indo-Pacific. I was personally involved in the negotiation for the Framework Agreement between Korea and the EU. It was during my time as ambassador to the EU that our free trade agreement entered into force, in July 2011.

Even then, during my time in Brussels, I was not happy with the level of attention the Asia-Pacific region was getting in Europe, and often urged my European colleagues to awaken to the opportunities we were missing and the need to level up our relations. Ten years since then, I was deeply pleased to read the EU's Indo-Pacific Strategy issued last September.

Last but not least, the new government has compelling reasons to focus on international economic statecraft. Since around 2017, the souring of U.S.-China relations, the sidelining of the WTO in global trade debates and rise in populism in domestic politics have undermined the rules reinforcing the global liberal order.

If anything, we observe such issues accelerating with the onslaught of the pandemic, the rise in the role of the state and the aggravation of geopolitical tensions. Thomas Friedman's "Flat World" is under increasing attack, which is an ominous development for a highly open economy like Korea's. One outstanding difficulty we face for now is in supply chains, but we have to brace ourselves for other related challenges as well.

A large number of countries are responding through strengthening "economic security." We in Korea formed an Economic Security-related Ministers' Council, and are to establish the Economic Security Center at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These are welcome moves, which must be strengthened under the new government with a sense of urgency.

Ahn Ho-young (hyahn78@mofa.or.kr) is president of the University of North Korean Studies. He served as Korean ambassador to the United States and first vice foreign minister.