Interest Groups and Foreign Policy in South Korea: A Case Study

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of interest groups in South Korean foreign policy with a particular reference to Nordpolitik, the diplomatic initiatives taken by the Roh Tae Woo government to improve the countrys relations with the communist countries north of its borders. More specifically, this work hopes to show that South Koreas interest groups, such as the political parties, the military, the business circle, the media, and the anti-communist organizations, gained some measure of autonomy in the wake of June 29 Declaration of 1987, enough to voice their views on many foreign policy issues including those relative to Nordpolitik, but they had a minimal success in affecting Nordpolitik. It hopes to shed some light on the interacting between interest groups and foreign policy in a typical society undergoing a profound transformation from a authoritarian system to a democracy. It will be a very interesting case study in the barren field of the relationship between interest groups and foreign policy decision-making in South Korea.