Why does the EU see Korea as a key partner?
Ramon Pacheco Pardo
The author is a professor of international relations at King’s College London and KF-VUB Korea Chair at Brussels School of Governance, Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel came to Seoul for the first Korea-EU summit since 2020 — and the first in Korea since 2015. Their visit came during the 60th anniversary of Korea-EU relations, which is taking place this year.
The visit was a momentous occasion. It signals that for the EU and Europe more generally, Korea now really has the status of key partner.
Why is the EU so keen in strengthening ties with Korea at this point?
A key reason is Korea’s more prominent and active global role, coupled with its growing economic, technological, military and diplomatic capabilities.
For many Europeans, Seoul’s foreign policy ambitions were yet to match its strengths. But in recent years, Korea has been more willing to look beyond the Korean Peninsula and East Asia and take a more active global role. This is very much welcome by the EU, which sees in Korea a natural partner.
Indeed, from the perspective of the EU, Korea shares its interests, goals and values. Looking across Asia, Europeans only see Japan as the other country sharing all three. Therefore, from a European perspective, there are no doubts that the EU needs to boost cooperation with Korea, especially since Korea can contribute its resources to address challenges from managing U.S.-China competition and supply chain resilience to upholding the remnants of multilateralism.
Koreans may have noticed that the visit by presidents von der Leyen and Michel to their country follows the recent trips by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez or Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
It is no coincidence that so many European leaders are taking time from their busy schedules to travel to Korea. They see a more global Korea bringing its resources to the table — resources from which they can also benefit.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has only increased the esteem in which Korea is held across Europe. After all, Korea is one of only a few countries globally to unambiguously condemn Moscow’s actions, impose sanctions on Russia and provide material support to Ukraine. Plus, Korean defense firms are providing weapons to European countries giving military support to Ukraine, such as Poland, Norway and Estonia. Europe is thankful for this support when most other countries see Russia’s invasion as a regional rather than global conflict.
Another crucial reason why the EU is so keen to strengthen ties with Korea is the move of the center of gravity of the global economy and politics towards Asia and the Indo-Pacific. For centuries, Europe first and the broader West later, including the United States, arguably were the epicenter of global geopolitics. But this is not the case in the 21st century. And Europe has finally realized it.
As a result, the EU and European countries are increasingly focusing their attention on the region. And they acknowledge that Europe needs partners from within the region to strengthen its voice. When the EU, France or Germany act or speak for themselves, their actions carry limited weight in the Indo-Pacific. But if they join Korea and other regional partners such as Australia or Japan, plus the United States, Asian and Indo-Pacific countries notice. This is a lesson that the EU has taken to heart.
Moreover, the Indo-Pacific is of course the main playing field where China and the United States are fighting for global supremacy. Europe can only try to affect this rivalry working with partners, including Korea.
We should thus brace ourselves for more regular Korea-EU summits with a greater focus on security matters. It is the natural evolution of a 60-year old partnership that the EU wants to make relevant to the geopolitics of the 21st century.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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