South Korea’s Progressive Foreign Policy Outlook: A Conversation with S. Nathan Park

Since democratization in 1987, South Korea’s progressive parties have produced less than half of the presidents elected to office. During their brief tenures, however, these administrations have deployed troops to Iraq, negotiated the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, and overseen the expansion of the country’s defense budget and capabilities. Despite this record, South Korea’s progressive foreign policy posture has sometimes been caricatured as “anti-American.” With another presidential election around the corner, a deeper understanding of South Korean progressive views of their country’s foreign policy interests will help U.S. policymakers and observers better understand the discourse in Seoul.