“We value the partnership with you [South Korea] because security is not regional; security is global.” 

This is what NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol when they met on the sidelines of the latest NATO summit in Lithuania. His statement asserted a security link between the North Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, while also putting forth a hidden acknowledgment of China’s growing assertiveness. 

NATO has shown an increasing interest in the Indo-Pacific over the years, and this has led both South Korea and Japan to bolster ties with the security