South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has articulated a consistent foreign policy message since taking office in May: Under his watch, Seoul will take an active role in defending the rules-based international order that has been instrumental in the country’s development from colonial victim to global power.

His rhetoric has been a notable and commendable departure from his predecessors. Korean governments have typically been more hesitant than their democratic peers to advocate for democracy and human rights abroad due to self-interested myopia. As a result, South Korean foreign policy has been reliably indifferent to any global issue not directly related to Korean trade, Korean investments, or Korean security.