{"id":2197111,"date":"2022-06-28T19:10:23","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T10:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/pro\/?p=2197111"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:12:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:12:13","slug":"nato-summit-a-springboard-for-south-korea-to-diversify-military-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/06\/nato-summit-a-springboard-for-south-korea-to-diversify-military-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO summit a springboard for South Korea to diversify military ties"},"content":{"rendered":"
Yoon Suk-yeol <\/span>departed for Madrid<\/span><\/a> on Monday to attend the upcoming NATO summit, making him the first South Korean president to do so. While not a member of the military alliance, South Korea is participating in the summit as a <\/span>partner country<\/span><\/a> along with Japan, Australia and New Zealand.<\/span><\/p>\n The South Korean leader also has a full slate of meetings scheduled with European heads of state during the summit, including the <\/span>Czech Republic<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Poland<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>the Netherlands<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Denmark<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Canada<\/span><\/a>. A bilateral summit with Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida appears unlikely, but the two will join a <\/span>trilateral summit<\/span><\/a> with U.S. President Joe Biden, the first such meeting since <\/span>2017<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Naturally, the NATO summit will <\/span>focus heavily<\/span><\/a> on Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and Yoon is also expected to seek NATO member states’ support for opposing <\/span>North Korea\u2019s weapons programs<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But perhaps the most surprising development connected to the upcoming summit is the South Korean government\u2019s decision to establish a diplomatic mission to NATO\u2019s headquarters in Brussels. This development signals a dramatic policy shift for South Korea, which has relied almost exclusively on the U.S. alliance for national defense but now feels compelled to reach out to others amid <\/span>perceptions of U.S. decline<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n European nations have also increasingly shifted their attention toward East Asia in recent years in response to growing <\/span>China-Russia cooperation<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>souring relations<\/span><\/a> with Beijing and the EU\u2019s evolving ties with Taiwan. NATO declared that China poses \u201c<\/span>systematic challenges<\/span><\/a>\u201d last year and is <\/span>set to do so again<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n This year\u2019s NATO summit could thus be a springboard for establishing a network of like-minded alliances and partnerships spanning the Trans-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions. But this also presents risks for South Korea, which could see its ties with neighbors Russia and China devolve as a result of its participation.<\/span><\/p>\n