Nationalism and Globalization in South Korea’s Foreign Policy

Nationalism and Globalization in South Korea’s Foreign Policy

  An examination of Korea’s foreign policy in the post-Cold War era quickly encounters a double paradox: globalization and nationalism. This paper provides an analysis and assessment of how Korea is coping with these twin pressures of globalization from without and above and nationalism from within and below, with a particular focus on the dynamics of national identity. A consideration of the interplay between national identity and globalization may develop an alternative conceptual framework to facilitate a synthetic interactive explanation of the thinking and practice of globalization in post-Cold War Korean foreign policy. Globalization as a political strategy developed from Kim Young Sam’s segyehwa drive through Kim Dae June’s “intormationization” to Roh Moo-hyun’s FTA drive. These policy themes then played out in the appropriation of globalization for national-identity purposes, especially in relation to the great powers of Northeast Asia. The nexus of globalization and national identity can be seen particularly in Korea’s relations with Japan, China, and the United States. In the end, Korea’s growing integration into the regional and global systems, aided and abetted by the forces of globalization, has a paradoxical relationship with nationalism, as both remain moving targets that force Korea to adapt to the changing circumstances of Korea’s nationalized and globalized “intermestic politics.”