Abstract

South Korea has long been regarded as a middle power nation. Accession to Group of Twenty (G 20) status and membership of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development-Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) were heralded as confirmation of South Korea’s status as ‘global Korea’ and a middle power and seemed to also confirm the rise of second-generation middle power activism, convenor-ship and leadership. The article explores how conventional IR realism and liberalism have yet to fully explain the emergence and role of network-based middle power leaders. The article assesses current strategic issues for South Korea in the context of North Korea’s nuclear program and responses to it. From this, what emerges, are a number of strategic concerns and opportunities given the current power dynamic in the region that are currently identified as to enabling South Korea as a transforming middle power to confront what has recently been termed the new phenomenon of ‘Korea passed.’

摘要

韩国长期以来一直被视为中等国家。加入二十国集团（G 20）的地位以及经济合作与发展组织-发展援助委员会（OECD-DAC）的成员资格预示着韩国已成为“全球大韩民国”和中等强国，并且似乎也证实了这一点。确认第二代中间力量激进主义，召集者和领导者的崛起。本文探讨了传统的IR现实主义和自由主义如何尚未完全解释基于网络的中间力量领导人的出现和作用。本文评估了北韩核计划及其对策下韩国当前的战略问题。由此可见，