Research On South Korea's "New Southern Policy" From The Perspective Of A Middle Power

A ‘middle power' refers to a country whose comprehensive strength is weaker than that of a major power,but holds a considerable degree of discourse power in the international community,and has a sense of identity and international responsibility.The diplomatic motivation of middle powers stems from the positive understanding of the outside world,the maintenance of national interests with national security as the core,and the adaptation to the international pattern dominated by great powers.They choose similar diplomatic paths to maximize their strengths and avoid weaknesses,such as paying more attention to low-polities,using soft power tools to intervene in international affairs,and relying on multilateral platforms to carry out foreign policy.In terms of foreign relations,middle powers prefer to adopt a ‘hedging strategy' among major powers or ally with a major power,and to have mainly a cooperative and coordinated relationship with other middle powers,while being more benevolent to small countries.Although the moderate size of the middle powers is convenient for adopting more flexible foreign policies,it also brings them a diplomatic dilemma,because the current nature of the international society is still power politics,and the policy choices of middle powers may be interfered by the major powers,and the the cooperation with small countries whose national strength is weak may sometimes beyond middle powers' capacity.In addition,domestic political changes in middle powers may have adverse effects such as impeding policy continuity.No matter in terms of comprehensive strength,or in terms of external behavior and internal identity,South Korea has the identity of a middle power.The ‘New Southern Policy' of the Moon Jae-in administration,with ASEAN as the main target country,is the first attempt by the South Korea government to elevate ASEAN to the same diplomatic status as the four major neighboring countries.The NSP aims to build.The motivation and the paths of this policy's implementation are in line with the foreign behavior logic of a middle power.In terms of motivation,both the progressive government and Moon himself pursue a proactive international outlook.The Moon administration is also motivated by adapting to the multipolarity trend and the China-US dual pattern,and national interests such as safeguarding national security.In terms of paths,the Moon administration has mainly adopted the approach of leveraging economic cooperation,taking advantage of soft power,and relying on multilateral mechanisms.Through the above-mentioned promotion methods,the NSP has delivered results.Firstly,the economic and trade relations between South Korea and ASEAN have been optimized,with increased economic dependence,more Korean companies entering the ASEAN market,South Korea's increased support to ASEAN,and cooperation funds rising year by year.Secondly,humanistic exchanges have been deepened,with the ‘Korean Wave' becoming popular in ASEAN,education cooperation becoming closer,and a significant increase in mutual visits before the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.During the outbreak,the two sides have joined hands to fight the epidemic.Lastly,security cooperation has been strengthened,with frequent exchanges on the DPRK nuclear issue,joint responses to other non-traditional security threats,and extensive defense industry cooperation.However,Moon's NSP also faces the diplomatic dilemma of a middle power.On the one hand,due to the pressure of the international system,ASEAN,which is mainly composed of small countries,is difficult to make an impact on the DPRK nuclear issue and to get rid of the shadow of the epidemic.At the same time,the ROK-US alliance restricts South Korea's independent policy stance.On the other hand,the shortcomings of South Korea's five-year single-term presidential system will seriously affect the continuation of the policy when the next conservative government takes office.In the future,South Korea will continue to deepen its economic cooperation with ASEAN,as well as other non-traditional security cooperation except the DPRK nuclear issue,but it is difficult to truly reduce its dependence on major powers.