The Yoon Suk-Yeol administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy and its implications for South Korea democracy

In the wake of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, a strategic rivalry has emerged between the United States and China. This competition has sparked a crisis in the multilateral Kissinger system, which was previously founded on a consensus between the two nations. To address the challenges posed by the post-war system crisis, South Korea’s conservative Yoon administration opted to align itself with the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. The Yoon government aimed to return to the San Francisco system by broadening trilateral cooperation amongst the United States, South Korea, and Japan, evolving it into a trilateral alliance. Additionally, it pursued economic divergence from the Kissinger system through initiatives aimed at decoupling from China.

The problem with the Indo-Pacific strategy implemented by Yoon Seok-yeol’s government is that it is damaging Korea’s multifaceted democracy, which thrived under the Kissinger system. In terms of human rights, which have always been valued within Korean democracy, there are ongoing threats to the right to survival, a decline in the right to development, damage to labor rights, and reduction of human rights. Additionally, in terms of inter-state sovereignty, there is a decline in sovereignty and escalating inequality in inter-state systems. Moreover, due to an increasing disregard for the global democratic agenda and growing acceptance of globally undemocratic views such as racism, Korea’s democracy is retreating to the era of the San Francisco system.