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The ties between authoritarian regimes (and even democratic governments after 1988) and South Korea’s chaebeol conglomerates, and the vulnerabilities and opportunities the ties bring about, are the subject of further analysis in the context of Central Asia. [...] In response to this growing resource competition and other threats to its energy security, the ROK has strived to diversify its energy sources in geographic provenance and type (Crude oil and oil products as a percentage of primary energy supplies declined from 58 percent in 1981 to 42.2 percent in 2009). [...] In sum, the three core elements of the ROK’s energy security are: (1) dependence on imported oil, coal, and gas due to a lack of domestic resources; (2) disproportionate reliance on the Middle East as identified in Kent Calder and Viktoriya Kim’s academic paper, “Korea, the United States, and Central Asia: Far-Flung Partners in a Globalizing World,” published by the Korea Economic Institute in Dec. [...] Kazakhstan in particular has hosted ROK ministers from the following ministries: the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in October 2010; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in December 2010; the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in January 2011; and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance in May 2011. [...] The positive externalities of diplomacy and business in Central Asia for Korea are (1) mitigating disruptions to its energy supply chains; (2) avoiding political and economic instability in its energy suppliers; (3) diversification of geographic provenance and type of its energy sources; and (4) long-term investments in states that have the potential to become strong trading partners.