South Korea at the Crossroads

October 2, 2017
This solid introduction to the history of South Korea’s foreign policy from Snyder (Middle-Power Korea), a senior fellow for Korean studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, has already been preempted by a rapidly developing situation. In the epilogue, Snyder addresses the implications of President Trump’s isolationist leanings for a longtime U.S. ally, writing that “in the hours following , the South Korean government called an emergency national security meeting.” However, this issue has already been overshadowed by North Korea’s missile launches throughout 2017, a development that makes the topic of the book’s concluding section—the feasibility of Korean unification—less likely than ever given the current state of affairs on the peninsula. However, Snyder is adept at describing the ups and downs in South Korea’s relationships with the U.S. and China, which illustrate his insightful thesis that there exists a “conflict between South Korea’s aspirations for autonomy and its need for alliance.” His observations aren’t always so useful—even nonexperts can grasp, as Snyder explains, that the success of South Korea’s foreign policy depends largely on its internal unity. Academics and news junkies will value Snyder’s book more as a source of background than as a work of analysis.

November 1, 2017
Nearing its 65th birthday, how does the southern half of the Korean peninsula fare? The prognosis is mixed.North Korea is very much in the news these days, thanks to its puzzlingly weird dictator. South Korea, quieter and eminently more normal, is less visible, destined in the eyes of many observers to be "a weak victim with little space for strategic maneuver in a world shaped by great-power politics." So writes Council of Foreign Relations senior fellow Snyder (Middle-Power Korea: Contributions to the Global Agenda, 2015, etc.), with a sure sense of realpolitik. South Korea faces difficulties, even as a comparatively major economy in its sphere, in making the case for its importance as a nation, which seems less the product of any inferiority complex than China's emergence as an overshadowing regional leader--and potential partner for the noncommunist south, perhaps even replacing the U.S. Pressures are also mounting for unification, as fewer and fewer Koreans remember why there should be two Koreas in the first place. There are, of course, two Koreas, and there is likely to be little interest in economically, much less politically, liberalizing the North, particularly since North Korean elites are likely to consider such a scenario "most threatening to their own interests"--i.e., remaining in power as elites. Snyder closes with a gimlet-eyed view of the Trump administration's apparent lack of interest in maintaining the status quo, to which, he writes, South Korea is likely to respond by intensely lobbying American groups perceived to be true allies for support, "including American veterans of the Korean War and members of the U.S. military who have served in Korea since that time." How much influence those groups can bring to an indifferent American government remains to be seen, but events may require South Korea to become a nuclear power to deter North Korean designs.Students of geopolitics will appreciate Snyder's thoughtful analysis of a troubled region.

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November 15, 2017

What are the challenges and opportunities that South Korea faces in the current international environment? Snyder (senior fellow for Korea studies, Council on Foreign Relations; China's Rise and the Two Koreas) addresses this question by reviewing the Republic of Korea's foreign relations from 1948 to the present, and analyzing the country's options in the contemporary situation. The realty of a rising China, and the possibility of U.S. retrenchment, is causing debates within South Korea regarding whether to continue alignment with the United States, adjust to a China-led Asia, or chart a middle course between the rival countries. Despite South Korea's growing power in recent decades, especially economically, it is still limited in what it can do internationally, as it must consider the intentions of the larger powers that surround it. The author makes a strong argument that South Korea's best choice is to stay with the U.S.-led alliance for the time being. This book includes an intriguing chapter on the prospects of Korean unification. VERDICT This cogently presented work is essential for specialists of East Asian international relations and those interested in South Korea's historical and present-day foreign policy.--Joshua Wallace, Tarleton State Univ. Lib. Stephenville, TX

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