North Korea threats make engaging Quad a risk worth taking for South Korea



Analysis North Korea threats make engaging Quad a risk worth taking for South Korea Expanded grouping provides opportunity for South Korea to codify security cooperation in Indo-Pacific Jagannath P. Panda May 24, 2022 SHARE COPY LINK FACEBOOK X LINKEDIN MASTODON Joe Biden (second to left) dines with Yoon Suk-yeol (masked, facing camera) during a summit in Seoul, May 2022 \| Image: Jeon Han via Republic of Korea Flickr For much of the past decade, South Korea was inclined to play a balancing act between the U.S. and China, while keeping its foreign policy energy primarily focused on North Korea. But “strategic ambiguity” appears to be no more. New South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol wants to firmly align the country with the U.S. and position South Korea firmly as a bulwark against the deterioration of liberal values. Yoon has repeatedly mentioned the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue as a mechanism through which to do this. For months, Yoon suggested that military and other cooperation Read More © Korea Risk Group. All rights reserved. No part of this content may be reproduced, distributed, or used for commercial purposes without prior written permission from Korea Risk Group. LATEST ANALYSIS 01How long-range strikes on Russia could impact North Korean troop deployments 02How North Korean hackers and IT workers collude to cause chaos 03What pro-Trump think tanks reveal about his likely North Korea policy priorities 04Yoon bet on US to deter North Korea. Now he faces an alliance skeptic in Trump. 05All the question marks hanging over Trump’s approach to North Korea in term two 06Time almost up for North Korea’s plan to launch 3 military satellites in 2024 07Trump return rekindles prospects of North Korea talks, but Russia stands in way 08How China could benefit from North Korea’s troop deployment to Ukraine

About the Author

Jagannath P. Panda

Dr. Jagannath Panda is the Head of the Stockholm Centre for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs (SCSA-IPA) at the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP), Sweden. He is also the Director for Europe-Asia Research Cooperation at the YCAPS, Senior Fellow at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS), The Hague; and an International Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) in Japan. Dr. Panda is the Series Editor for Routledge Studies on Think Asia and author of the book India-China Relations (Routledge: 2017) and China’s Path to Power: Party, Military and the Politics of State Transition (Pentagon Press: 2010). His recent work includes Quad Plus and Indo-Pacific (Routledge: 2021); Scaling India-Japan Cooperation in Indo-Pacific and Beyond 2025 (KW Publishing Ltd. 2019), and The Korean Peninsula and Indo-Pacific Power Politics: Status Security at Stake (Routledge, 2020).

VIEW MORE ARTICLES BY Jagannath P. Panda Got a news tip?Let us know!