The parallels between the predicament of Israel and the Republic of Korea are considerable. Both face existential threats on their borders. Though both states are democracies, the commonalities between them run deeper. Both are relatively young countries born out of conflict. Both exist under threats from their respective neighbors from inception. Both suffered periods of isolation in world politics,[1] yet despite heavy economic burdens due to many security challenges, both managed to build a vibrant democracy and a prosperous economy. Both countries maintain the most vital asset one can provide to the United States: strategic relevance. And both states’ economies are export-oriented. A bolstered relationship with Seoul, which is relevant and useful to American interests, serves Israel’s strategic interest.
Considering North Korea’s role in exporting missile technologies to Syria and Iran, its nuclear proliferation role, and its training of Palestinian terrorists, Israel has developed a special interest in the Korean Peninsula.[2] North Korea has also helped Hizballah and there is evidence of North Korean assistance in building tunnels exposed in 2006.[3]
Having formally begun their relationship in April 1962, the connection between Israel and South Korea has continued to improve, culminating in 2022 in a free trade agreement (FTA). Israel and South Korea enjoy a mutually beneficial partnership predicated on similarities in their geopolitical challenges, such as a hostile environment, the nuclear threat, the relationship with their US ally, make or buy dilemmas in weapon procurement, and their economic interactions.
Israel first opened its embassy in Seoul in 1964. Shortsightedly, Israel then closed the embassy in 1978 as part of the budgetary cuts in the Foreign Ministry.[4]
However, in the wake of the Gulf War and to accommodate Washington’s recommendations, Israeli-South Korean relations resumed in 1992 at the ambassadorial level,[5] and South Korea opened its embassy in Tel Aviv two years later.
While Israel and South Korea are strong military powers, both tried to solve their ongoing regional conflicts peacefully at the end of the last century. Israel tried via the Oslo process, while South Korea practiced the Sunshine Policy toward North Korea. Interestingly, Israel, under Yitzhak Rabin even tried to change North Korean behavior in the Middle East.[6] These attempts failed. Israel and South Korea remained aware that they must have the military capabilities to deal with their respective conflicts should they intensify.
Their separate political biographies are conducive to a better mutual understanding and cooperation. In 2014, South Korea’s former ambassador to Israel, Lee Gun-Tae, told visiting Israeli president Reuven Rivlin: “South Korea is probably the only country that can understand Israel’s complicated situation.” Rivlin replied: “Until I came to Seoul, I thought there was only one miracle, Israel, and then I saw what you have done since the 1950s.”[7] Rivlin was the first Israeli president to visit South Korea. He expressed his hope for closer cooperation and bilateral tourism. Indeed, nearly 10 years later, the two countries are more intimate than ever.
This article analyzes the parallels between the predicament of Israel and the Republic of Korea. It looks first at the geopolitical situation, followed by an analysis of their current relations with their main ally, the United States. Subsequently, the significance of the nuclear threat is assessed, and the role of military industries is reviewed. Finally, the bilateral economic arena is presented.
The Geopolitical Predicament
The historical background of both countries intensifies their threat perception: both South Korea and Israel have faced events that have called into question their very survival as states within living memory. These form a prism through which contemporary threats are viewed. The opponents of both countries continue to entertain hopes for achieving politicide, i.e., destroying their states: Many of Israel’s Arab and Muslim foes remain not ready to accept a Jewish state. Instead, they desire Israel’s demise. In recent years, Iran too has presented an existential challenge due to its theological opposition to the existence of the Jewish state and its nuclear aspirations.
Similarly, the North Korean regime wants the South Korean state to disappear so that it can take over its territory and unite the peninsula under its rule. The Soviet Union then, and today Russia, has backed North Korea. China, an ascendant global power, is also a patron.
The most notable existential threat to South Korea comes from its northern border. In addition, its economic relationship with China puts South Korea in an uncomfortable geopolitical position. China is a major market for South Korea’s exports, and in 2021, imported about $196.2 billion from South Korea, accounting for about 30 percent of South Korea’s total exports. That, in turn, has created a dependency on China at a time when the United States, Korea’s ally, and China are competing for regional influence.
China is also an important market for Israel, accounting for 8 percent of total exports and 14 percent of all imports in 2021. Yet its civilian exports do not constitute a point of friction with the US. Rather, Israel’s export of potentially dual-use items irks Washington, as well as infrastructure projects built by Chinese firms. As a result, Israel established a more rigorous mechanism in recent years to monitor economic interactions with Chinese firms that could attract American criticism.
The changing international landscape dominated by China-US competition introduces new national security challenges for Jerusalem. It is unclear whether Israel retains its strategic value to the US, which is pivoting in its geostrategic focus to Asia.[8] This leaves Israel alone to face the Iranian threat. The China-US competition also negatively affects South Korea, which is militarily dependent upon America and China for its economic prosperity. Nevertheless, the United States’ increased threat perception of Chinese encroachment brings its Asian allies that share this concern closer to Washington.
The decreased American interest in the Middle East threatens the stability of the region’s energy routes and is conducive to closer relations between Israel and South Korea. South Korea imports 93 percent of its energy from abroad, including 58 percent of its oil supply from the Middle East. In 2021, the total cost of its energy imports, which accounted for about 22 percent of South Korean imports that year, amounted to $137.2 billion. As one of the world’s top consumers of Middle Eastern oil, South Korea has a stake in the region’s stability. It currently enjoys a strong relationship with the states whose energy it needs and has, in turn, been a vital economic partner for countries like the UAE. As a result of the Abraham Accords and Israel joining CENTCOM, as well as the perceived American decreased profile, Jerusalem is increasingly viewed as a potential security provider in the region. Israeli and South Korean interests converge in this respect.
Relationship with the US
The United States plays a great and complicated role in the affairs of both Israel and South Korea. As a global economic, political, and military hegemon, being seen as a valuable partner of the United States is important for small countries like Israel and South Korea. Washington shields the two states in diplomatic multilateral fora. Moreover, the strong relationship with the US enhances deterrence. The presence of US soldiers in the Korean peninsula at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the border with North Korea, reinforced by a defense treaty, has a powerful effect.
In contrast, Israel’s national security doctrine stresses self-reliance and not requiring a US military presence for its defense. Nevertheless, Israel is the beneficiary of substantial American arms and foreign aid. As part of the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Israel, Jerusalem receives $3.8 billion each year (which must be spent in the United States) and receives additional sums allocated by Congress for special projects.[9]
Despite the United States being the first country to recognize Israel in 1948, the special relationship between the United States and Israel began to develop only after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six Day War over Arab Soviet clients. After the Soviet Union disintegrated, radical Islam became the main enemy of America. In this struggle, Israel, due to its location and acquaintance with the Arab and Muslim world, remained a key strategic asset. The amount of aid the United States renders to Israel reflects its strategic value to the United States as a strong democratic stronghold in a region mired with unrest but of importance to the United States.
The United States is formally committed to preserving Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME), which entails the transfer of advanced technologies and weapon systems. An important example was the sale of the American F-35 Stealth Fighter to Israel, the first American partner to receive one. The transfer of American weapons to Israel makes the IDF–which continuously engages in military conflict–an important laboratory for American arms. Israeli upgrades to American weapons systems and intelligence-gathering capabilities benefit Washington enormously. Furthermore, the United States invests in Israeli pioneering military technologies, such as developing the ballistic missile defense system (Arrow 2, 3, and David’s Sling).
Regarding South Korea, the United States constitutes its main buffer against North Korean aggression. Since the signing of the Mutual Defense Act at the end of the Korean War in 1953, the United States has maintained a military presence in South Korea to deter and fight with the South Korean army against a military invasion.
While South Korea is a sovereign country, it owes much of its current success to the United States security umbrella. Though it does not receive direct American foreign aid like Israel does, the massive deployment of American military resources to the country, which between 2016 and 2019 cost the American government $13.4 billion, has helped Seoul carry the defense burden. Moreover, the United States intervened militarily to defend its independence against North Korean and Chinese invasions.[10]
Since the Korean War, the American government has supported Seoul and created the context for its development into the economic power it is today. For example, during the 1990s, South Korea received about $62 billion in foreign direct investment from American businesses, which helped support the struggling South Korean economy. Furthermore, during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, the United States advocated on its behalf to the IMF to help save South Korea’s economy.
Israel’s and South Korea’s dependence on the United States has also led to significant tension between Washington and Jerusalem, and Seoul. For example, former South Korean president Park Chung Hee initiated in the 1970s what was South Korea’s first attempt to build a nuclear option. This undertaking began in part because of fears of abandonment by the United States. In 1970, President Richard Nixon withdrew 20,000 of the 63,000 American servicemen stationed in South Korea. Even after Seoul stopped its nuclear program in 1976, bowing to US pressure, tensions worsened as President Jimmy Carter withdrew the 2nd Infantry Division and the US’s nuclear weapons.
President Donald Trump’s efforts to create a dialogue with North Korea upset the South Korean government. Trump had accused the South Korean government and many others of not paying their fair share to maintain the American military forces serving outside of the United States. Former president Moon Jae-in, who helped broker the meetings between North Korea and the United States, was upset by Trump’s perceived favoritism of North Korea over South Korea. Since President Joe Biden took office in 2020, he has sought to reverse Trump’s Korea policy and maintain an open dialogue and close partnership with South Korea without embracing President Kim Jong Un.
Israel too has had moments of tension with Washington. In 1956, the US lambasted the Israeli, British, and French invasion of the Suez Canal Zone. During the 1967 Six Day War, tensions were inflamed as the IAF mistakenly attacked the USS Liberty, an American spy ship. In 1975, President Ford threatened to withhold support for Israel unless it withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula, which it had conquered from Egypt in 1967. During the First Lebanon War in 1982, President Ronald Reagan heavily criticized the Israeli government for using American weapons. President George H. W. Bush threatened not to approve loan guarantees unless Israel stopped settling Jews in the West Bank.
Today, Washington is displeased with Israel’s and South Korea’s policies toward the Ukraine conflict. Fortunately for both South Korea and Israel, their respective periods of tension with the United States were temporary speed bumps in what have been productive and mutually beneficial relationships. Such strains are typical of great power-small ally relationships.
Amid its fear of abandonment and the uncertainty regarding the long-term commitment of the United States to South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol put forward in January 2023 the idea of unilaterally developing nuclear capabilities to limit his country’s dependency upon US extended nuclear deterrence. In response, Biden called South Korea the “linchpin of regional security and prosperity” and assured that an attack from North Korea would “result in the end” of that regime.[11] Yet America’s partners around the world surely understand that a promise from a president is not ironclad.
Despite being occasionally reassured by the United States of continuous support, Israel and South Korea also strive to maintain the most vital asset one can provide to the United States: strategic relevance. At different periods in history, the focus of the United States has shifted from one part of the world to another. As the United States ends its War on Terrorism in the Middle East, its focus has shifted to Asia, toward China’s rising power. South Korea most likely benefits greatly from the increased attention the United States grants its region. Given the already extensive American assets in South Korea, they will certainly remain relevant during the China-US rivalry.
Though it is unlikely that the US-Israel special relationship will end soon, Israel has shifted its diplomatic focus to Asia to stay strategically relevant to America and benefit from the partnership with a global power. Much more is needed. That is the context that the Israel-South Korea relationship can best be understood. A bolstered relationship with South Korea, which will be relevant to American interests, serves Israel’s strategic interest.
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