South Korea as a global pivotal state

During the 2022 South Korean election campaign, then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol of the conservative People Power Party published an article in Foreign Affairs outlining his foreign policy vision titled "South Korea Needs to Step Up." Policymakers in Washington took note as Yoon described the U.S.-South Korea alliance as the "central axis" of South Korean foreign policy. That line was reassuring to the U.S. Biden administration, but Yoon's more consequential message was the idea of South Korea as a "global pivotal state." As President Yoon articulated, "South Korea should no longer be confined to the Korean Peninsula but rise to the challenge of being what I have described as a 'global pivotal state,' one that advances freedom, peace, and prosperity through liberal democratic values and substantial cooperation."