The remain- and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declaring ing four reports covering the period of 2021- at the 2023 Shangri La dialogue that Australia is 2023 came from the Asia Society Australia, the “not opting out from the big questions of security 17 Defence and Security Institute at the University and stability” in the region, Australia remains of Western Australia and two from the Perth less. [...] Transitioned ROK-Australia security Identified and affirmed the energy Greater availability and accessibility to cooperation beyond the confines transition as an important feature of opportunities and financial avenues for of the Korean Peninsula and into the bilateral relationship, including Australians and South Koreans to study the wider Indo-Pacific region. [...] including the potential for Chinese pushback; competing domestic political priorities within In terms of diplomatic engagement, the very fact and between the three democracies — and in that Australia is the first country for the ROK to the ROK and Japan’s case, sometimes volatile develop a 2+2 meeting after the United States is relations — Australian, South Korean and Japa- significant. [...] of the MOU between the Korea National Defense University and the Australian Defence Force Defence cooperation Training Centre; the ROK’s inaugural dispatch of observers to Exercise Southern Jackaroo in Opportunities continue to exist to bring the June 2024; and the ROK’s participation in the ROK into more formal agreements beyond the regional peace operations Exercise Pirap Jabiru longstanding US-. [...] key areas of the partnership “before the window closes.”69 That said, the plethora of recent Track 2 The selection of Japan and the ROK in the short- reports by think tanks and university programs list was in and of itself a significant development have laid out a broader agenda for engagement.
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- 22
- Published in
- Australia
Table of Contents
- Introduction 2
- Reviewing Australia-ROK cooperation 2
- The Australia-ROK security relationship has varied throughout the decades sometimes witnessing periods of intense cooperation while being neglected at other times. 2
- Bilateral stumbling blocks and periods of neglect 4
- Research interest in the Australia-ROK relationship since 2021 5
- Foreign policy and defence cooperation 8
- Key developments 9
- Going forward 10
- Diplomatic engagement 10
- Defence cooperation 10
- Economic technological and international development cooperation 11
- Going forward 12
- Economic cooperation 12
- People-to-people exchanges 13
- Going forward 13
- New frontiers 13
- AUKUS Pillar II 13
- Naval shipbuilding 15
- Conclusion 15
- Endnotes 16
- About the author 20
- Professor Peter J. Dean 20
- Director of Foreign Policy and Defence United States Studies Centre 20