A group of academics, researchers and journalists gathered Monday to provide foreign policy recommendations for South Korea’s next administration ahead of the country’s upcoming presidential election.
The forum, co-hosted by Seoul-based private think tank Plaza Project, Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Young-ho and the Korean Peninsula Peace Network, a research institute affiliated with the National Assembly, featured wide-ranging discussions on global geopolitical shifts under the second Donald Trump administration, as well as South Korea’s own political transition and possible implications for its foreign policy direction.
At the forum, international relations professor Shin Beom-shik of Seoul National University's Asia Center argued that Korea should pursue strategic balancing across multiple diplomatic layers to respond to evolving global power dynamics. He emphasized that Seoul must not only deepen its traditional alliances, but also expand minilateral frameworks — relations with small groups of nations to tackle problems or pursue goals — in Northeast Asia and proactively engage with the Global South, where emerging powers are projected to play a much greater role in shaping the international order.
“The global system is no longer defined by a single axis of great power competition, but by a hybrid structure of regional fragmentation and multipolar dynamics. Korea must actively lead efforts to build balance, rather than merely adapt,” he said during the forum’s third session, which was themed around Korea’s strategic positioning in response to the evolving international order.
Political science and diplomacy professor Kim Heung-kyu of Ajou University and chair of the Plaza Project, echoed the need for a flexible strategy, calling for what he described as “all-weather diplomacy.” In an era of unpredictable geopolitical shifts, he stressed that Korea must reduce excessive dependence on alliances and instead strengthen its own capacities in defense, science and technology. “We can no longer rely on one diplomatic outfit for all seasons,” he said, adding that national resilience would allow for more autonomous and sustainable foreign policy.
During a panel discussion, Cha Du-hyeogn, principal fellow of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, warned against the uncritical use of the term “pragmatism,” arguing it could be perceived by allies as related to a lack of resolve. “We often justify policy shifts as ‘pragmatic,’ but to others, it may look like we’re hedging or stepping back from commitments,” he said. “That perception itself could come at a serious cost.”
Ji Da-gyum, staff reporter on The Korea Herald’s National Desk, addressed the implications of Trump’s populist foreign policy, emphasizing that Korea’s diplomatic messaging toward the US must take American voter sentiment into account.
“With US policy increasingly driven by domestic populism, Korea must frame the alliance not just as something that benefits Korea, but as a partnership that clearly serves US interests as well,” she said. “We need to present outcomes that resonate with the American public to help sustain the alliance amid shifting political winds.”
Other discussants, including Kil Yoon-hyung, editorial writer at local daily the Hankyoreh, and Lee Dae-sik of the Rio Institute, called for a more integrated and less ideologically rigid foreign policy. Kil pointed out that the traditional strategies of South Korea's progressives and conservatives have collapsed with North Korea's nuclear doctrine and the reemergence of Trump, respectively, while Lee stressed the importance of breaking down policy silos across economic, diplomatic and security domains. He called for cross-cutting strategies better suited to today’s increasingly entropic and interconnected global environment.
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