Foreign policy in South Korea's presidential elections

Foreign policy plays a minor role in the election but will play a major role in the winning administration

On 9 March 2022, South Korea will choose its next president. The ruling progressive party candidate, Lee Jae-myung, and the main opposition conservative candidate, Yun Suk-yeol, propose different approaches to North Korea, China, Japan, and the United States. Some commentators believe the election will have foreign policy significance. But there are several reasons to be guarded about assessments of South Korea’s future foreign policy based on the presidential election period.

First, foreign policy plays only a minor role in the election campaign. Candidates compete for votes at the centre of the ideological spectrum on issues closer to the voter, such as inequality and corruption, taxes, employment, inflation, housing, and education. These issues attract considerably more attention. Foreign policy is not a vote winner.

Second, because foreign policy plays only a minor role, there’s less incentive for a candidate to be specific on their planned initiatives. Unlike Australia, there’s no …