In his September 2020 speech at the UN General Assembly, Moon also linked South Korea’s pandemic response to much broader goals-strengthening international cooperation, fighting climate change, and promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula. President Moon Jae-in has sought to capitalize on this source of soft power, even branding South Korea’s model as “K-Quarantine,” a rhetorical nod to K-pop’s widespread popularity. Her research focuses on Asian security issues, with particular emphasis on the Korean Peninsula and U.S. Kathryn Botto is a senior research analyst in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. When Joseph Nye coined the term soft power, he identified its three components as “culture,” “political values,” and “foreign policy (when as legitimate and having moral authority).” South Korea’s pandemic track record exemplifies the latter two components, enhancing the positive associations other countries have of South Korea. South Korea’s well-executed pandemic response has elevated the country’s international image as a competent democracy and a responsible international stakeholder. The South Korean Example as a Source of Soft Power In doing so, South Korea has constructed a positive narrative of its commitment to supporting other countries’ wellbeing. In April, Seoul further allocated $400 million for public health in the developing world and extended the repayment timeline on debts totaling $110 million. Early in the pandemic, South Korea offered lifesaving testing kits to many countries and U.S. Though South Korea has made major multilateral contributions, some of its most notable work has been through bilateral initiatives that South Korean partners worldwide can more readily attribute to Seoul itself. Multilaterally, South Korea is developing one of the nine vaccine candidates for the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative and is active in pushing for the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally. Though not without criticism, South Korea’s pandemic response has been one of the world’s most effective models on both public health and economic grounds, and Seoul has campaigned to make its model the international standard for infectious disease responses.īeyond its borders, South Korea has stepped up with financial assistance, medical supplies, and close consultations with foreign officials on best practices. South Korea successfully held the world’s first pandemic-era election-a nationwide contest with historically high turnout-without a spike in cases, setting an example for many other democracies with subsequent elections, including the United States. Filling the Leadership VoidĮarly in the pandemic, when many authoritarian countries appeared to be handling the outbreak well, South Korea showed that democracies could respond effectively too. Even with a recent uptick in cases, South Korea’s adept handling of the pandemic has brought it international recognition that, if managed well, could prove to be a powerful source of heightened influence and soft power on Seoul’s other policy priorities. Few can match the power of Seoul’s example. In the meantime, middle powers like South Korea have stepped in to fill the global leadership void, helping coordinate fiscal and monetary policies and finance global health initiatives. President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to pursue a less insular, more multilateral diplomatic agenda. Neither country appears interested in cooperating with the other, even in a time of such great need. Though China has become more engaged in multilateral efforts, its initial moves to conceal the outbreak and peddle disinformation on the virus’s origins have undermined Beijing’s projected image of global leadership. With its image in decline, the United States has ceded the power of example, once a soft power strength that encouraged other nations to follow its lead. As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, South Korea and other countries around the globe have watched the world’s two most powerful countries put the politics of their competitive rivalry over cooperation.
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