Global South and Korea's Diplomacy

Yoonjung Choi

yjchoi@sejong.org​

Director of Center for Indo-Pacific Studies

The Sejong Institute​

❍ The "Global South" is emerging as an important factor in establishing a new international order as it increases its political and economic influence based on the rapidly growing population and economy.

❍ However, while the concept of "Global South" and the scope of the country are ambiguous, Global South is being consumed it is a trend as countries that claim to be Global South and the number of small-large multilateral relations or countries are trying to use them for an influence.

❍ Countries that mainly use the Global South for diplomacy include India and Brazil, which claim to be the dominant power of the Global South and are now expanding to China, Japan, and the United States, regional consultative bodies such as G7, G20, BRICS, SCO, IPEF, and APEC, and discussions at the UN and WTO to actively embrace the Global South beyond the existing South-South cooperation level.

❍ Korea has also begun to consider the global South in its foreign policy in earnest in major diplomatic stages, such as the Indo-Pacific strategy and the trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan.

❍ Korea should also make intentional efforts to establish a diplomatic strategy in consideration of the global South, and it is necessary to seek ways to create a national identity and competitive advantage as a mediator between the global South and the global North, starting from the practice of the "contribution diplomacy" of the intangible strategy.

- Starting with a clear understanding of the term, it is necessary to establish a diplomatic strategy specialized for the Global South, seek a new paradigm for development cooperation with the Global South, and improvise ways to develop Korea's contribution diplomacy targeting the Global South.

- In particular, ODA is limited to the act of aid only targeting developing countries, whereas contribution diplomacy should be promoted as a complex diplomatic model that can expand the scope of support from the least developed countries to developing countries that have achieved a certain level of development, expand the field of support not only to economic development but also to solve problems in the global South and expand support partners to donor countries and institutions.​