Shrimp amongst Whales? Assessing South Korea’s Regional-power Status

Recent developments in South Korea’s foreign and security policies as well as major structural adjustments in the military alliance between the United States and South Korea indicate a new self-understanding on the part of South Korea in terms of playing a more assertive role in regional and even global affairs. Alongside its involvement in the so-called Six-Party Talks—a multinational framework to disarm a nuclear North Korea—South Korea’s civil-military engagement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon demonstrates that the government’s foreign policy posture is not only focused on Northeast Asian affairs but is also intended to engage in other international security hot spots. However, although it has considerable material resources and capabilities—in neorealist terms constituting the power base of a state actor—South Korea is widely seen as a minor player in world politics. By means of a specific set of indicators—pretension, endowment, influence, recognition—this paper seeks to answer the question of whether South Korea is a regional power. The methodological approach used to evaluate its position will be based on analytical frameworks and typologies compiled from the literature on regional powers. Following the introduction of this approach, different concepts of the term regional power and the selection of the methodological instruments are presented. The subsequent section analyzes the selected set of indicators with regard to South Korea’s potential status as a regional power. The concluding chapter evaluates the findings and raises further questions related to the regional-power concept.regional power, South Korea, foreign and security policy, intersubjective un-derstanding

How Signifying Practices Constitute Food (In)security The Case of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

This paper argues that the question of food (in)security in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not necessarily indicative of the country’s actual nutritional conditions but is rather constituted through meaning-making behavior—signifying practices—predominantly on the part of humanitarian aid institutions working there. The argument is not intended to gloss over the food and nutritional situation in North Korea or to suggest that famine, starvation, or malnutrition do not exist. The paper nevertheless argues that humanitarian institutions are not external to or separate from the reality they observe, monitor, and measure, but are rather constitutive of the categories which produce that reality— in this case food (in)security in North Korea. The undertaking of nutrition surveys, food security assessments, and food-aid monitoring as well as the issuing of consensus statements are examples of aid practices that signify North Korea in terms of vulnerability, emergency, and food insecurity. The paper’s central argument is that it is through precisely these observations, assessments, and representations that food (in)security in North Korea comes into being.North Korea, food security, discourse, representation, knowledge, humanitarian institutions

North Korea and the Politics of Visual Representation

Within international discourses on security, North Korea is often associated with risk and danger, emanating paradoxically from what can be called its strengths-particularly military strength, as embodied by its missile and nuclear programs-and its weaknesses-such as its ever?present political, economic, and food crises-which are considered to be imminent threats to international peace and stability. We argue that images play an important role in these representations, and suggest that one should take into account the role of visual imagery in the way particular issues, actions, and events related to North Korea are approached and understood. Reflecting on the politics of visual representation means to examine the functions and effects of images, that is what they do and how they are put to work by allowing only particular kinds of seeing. After addressing theoretical and methodological questions, we discuss individual (and serial) photographs depicting what we think are typical examples of how North Korea is portrayed in the Western media and imagined in international politics.Visual representation, synecdoche, identity, North Korea

Memorials’ politics:Exploring the material rhetoric of the Statue of Peace

This paper discusses the material rhetoric of the Statue of Peace built in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Installed in 2011 to commemorate so-called ?comfort women??the former sex slaves forced to work in brothels during Korea?s occupation by the Empire of Japan?, several identical-looking copies of the statue have since spread throughout the country and beyond. While many observers have noted the symbolic politics of the sculpture, I argue for taking into account its material dimension too?with the aim of furthering our understanding of how commemorative practices are enabled by mnemonic installations. Building on the scholarship that has addressed the rhetoric of objects and places of remembrance, I ask how the statue acts on and engages with its viewers. Among others, site visits, observations, own experiences, interviews, and visual documentation serve as the basis of the discussion.This paper discusses the material rhetoric of the Statue of Peace built in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Installed in 2011 to commemorate so-called “comfort women”—the former sex slaves forced to work in brothels during Korea’s occupation by the Empire of Japan—, several identical-looking copies of the statue have since spread throughout the country and beyond. While many observers have noted the symbolic politics of the sculpture, I argue for taking into account its material dimension too—with the aim of furthering our understanding of how commemorative practices are enabled by mnemonic installations. Building on the scholarship that has addressed the rhetoric of objects and places of remembrance, I ask how the statue acts on and engages with its viewers. Among others, site visits, observations, own experiences, interviews, and visual documentation serve as the basis of the discussion.<br/

Rising South Korea : a minor player or a regional power?

South Korea's rising status in regional and global affairs has received significant attention in recent years. In academic, media, and policy debates, though, South Korea is usually regarded as a mere middle power that, due to its geopolitical situation, has only limited leeway in its foreign policy choices. Accordingly, it must constantly maneuver between its larger neighbors: China, Japan, and Russia. However, this perspective negates the fact that the same geopolitical constraints also apply to other states in the region. Thus no country can easily project its power onto others. We use the concept of “regional power” as a template for investigating South Korea's rising stature in regional and global politics, and argue that Seoul appears quite capable of keeping up with other assumed regional powers. Hence, we not only provide a novel account of South Korea's foreign policy options but also go beyond current approaches by asking about the (undetermined) possibilities that exist for Seoul's regional relations

South Korea as a global actor: international contributions to development and security

South Korea recently hosted two major international events: the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in December 2011 and the Nuclear Security Summit in March 2012. Both meetings underscore South Korea's ambitions to increase its involvement in global development assistance and security. The Korean president Lee Myung-bak is pursuing a policy of international contributions with his "Global Korea" national security strategy. Foreign deployments of the South Korean military and an increase in development assistance are expressions of this policy. However, not only humanitarian reasons, but also the desire for global visibility, recognition and influence play a role in this context. South Korea joined the OECD's Development Assistance Committee at the end of 2009; ten years previously this committee had still classified the country as a recipient state. When deploying its military to foreign countries, South Korea's priorities are non-military assignments such as civil reconstruction, political consulting or medical support. The activities in the field of development assistance and security constitute core elements in the expansion of the country's role in international relations. Considering South Korea’s economic and political development since the state's inception in 1945, its further ascent in global politics cannot be ruled out