South Korea’s middle power diplomacy and the South China Sea disputes

ABSTRACT

The middle power concept is versatile enough to categorise any states in the middle range of the world order that display certain behavioural characteristics known as middle power behaviours. Meanwhile, the adoption of the middle power concept as an explicit policy position by Korean IR scholars and policy researchers can shape and influence the actual policy practice as South Korea’s academic discussions on ‘middle power diplomacy knowledge’ (MPD) have advanced with the purpose of serving its national interests. This research sought to better conceptualise South Korea’s middle power diplomacy particularly on the South China Sea disputes between the USA and China and determine whether or not it is essential for its national interests through active Korean IR scholars’ and policy researchers’ perspectives. It found that there is more uncertainty or concern about employing ‘middle power diplomacy’ due to their assessment of finding greater drawbacks than benefits. Yet, the utmost reason behind such discrepancy stems from the epistemic fallacies prevalent in the middle power scholarship. Ultimately, discussions on South Korea’s middle power diplomacy should begin with the awareness of such fallacies and attempt to address them by critically examining the ontology of South Korea’s middle power categorisation, which leads one to question what kind of reality entails South Korea’s being a ‘middle power’ in the SCS disputes and, from there, determine its appropriate role.

KEYWORDS:

• Middle power diplomacy
• epistemic fallacies
• South Korea
• South China Sea disputes
• US–China rivalry

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the participants of 2023 World Congress for Korean Politics and Society as well as the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable feedback. Their insights and suggestions greatly helped enhance my research paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Handong Global University [Grant Number 202200880001].

Notes on contributors

Monica S. Jeong

Monica S. Jeong is an assistant professor at Handong Global University in Pohang City, South Korea. She received her doctorate degree in international relations from Korea University. Her recent publications include ‘Critical Realism: A better way to think about middle powers’ (International Journal, 2019), ‘What Kind of Real World Makes South Korea’s Middle Power Categorization Necessary?’ (Pacific Focus, 2020) and ‘Why the Stalemate? A Critical Analysis of the South Korean Government’s Policy Approach to the North Korean Abductions of South Koreans’ (North Korean Review, 2022). Her current research focuses particularly on middle power theories, middle power diplomacy and Asia Pacific.