한국의 ‘전략적 동반자’ 외교, 몽골에 대한 시사점

ROK’s Strategic Partnership Diplomacy and its Implications for Mongolia

Over the past 30 years, countries around the world have been using strategic partnerships as a useful diplomacy. Establishing a strategic partnership is when individual countries recognize that there are common interests at the global, regional, or bilateral level based on comprehensive and in-depth bilateral cooperation and exchanges, and mutually confirm their intention to systematically cooperate or consult on these interests. Korea is actively utilizing strategic partnership diplomacy to respond to worsening external conditions, such as the THAAD issue with China and the trade dispute with Japan. Currently, Korea has 31 strategic partners, and the cooperation agenda, method, and mechanism are different depending on the partner country. In selecting a strategic partner in Korea's foreign policy, the scale of economic exchange between the two countries and the capacity of the other country as a regional hub are major criteria. In addition, securing the status of a middle power, which Korea is putting forward as a key strategy in the regional or international arena, and whether it is a partner in the Indo-Pacific strategy can also be seen as having a significant impact. This principle is also observed in the case of establishing a strategic partnership between Korea and Mongolia. The bilateral relationship has been enriched with new agendas such as establishing strategic dialogue in the defense sector, cooperation on the supply chain of key minerals, and promoting norms and value diplomacy. In the process of promoting strategic partnership cooperation, the two countries are utilizing the framework of tripartite subregional cooperation mechanism including the U.S. This is different from the strategic partnership cooperation that Korea is pursuing with resource-rich countries such as Qatar and Uzbekistan. In order to sustain the strategic partnership relationship between the two countries in the long term, it is necessary to actively seek practical diplomacy, that is, mutually beneficial and substantial economic cooperation measures.