President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, right, receives a letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered by Chinese Ambassador to Seoul Xing Haiming at the People Power Party headquarters in Seoul, March 11. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun

Seoul expected to boost multilateral-level cooperation with economies in Indo-Pacific in bid to reduce trade reliance on No. 2 economy

By Kim Bo-eun

HONG KONG ― The election of conservative Yoon Suk-yeol as South Korea's next president has raised questions over the future direction of relations between Seoul and Beijing, with the former prosecutor making clear he plans to strengthen trade and security ties with Washington.

Yoon has taken a harder stance on China than outgoing liberal president Moon Jae-in, who has placed considerable importance on ties with the world's No 2 economy, both in terms of trade and its ability to help negotiate with North Korea.

China is by far South Korea's largest trading partner, snapping up 25 percent of Korea's total exports in 2021, helping push bilateral trade to a record $301.5 billion.

But the escalating rivalry between Beijing and Washington has posed a dilemma for Seoul, which must balance economic ties with China and its traditional security relationship with the U.S.

Under Moon's leadership, South Korea preferred to treat both as "equally important" ― but that is likely to change when Yoon takes office, analysts say.

"Considering that the Moon administration's neutral stance did not result in practical benefits and taking into account the level of anti-China sentiment in Korea, it appears feasible that the new administration would keep a distance from China compared to the current administration and take gestures leaning toward the U.S.," said Moon Jong-chol, research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.

The incoming administration could pose the greatest test for Seoul-Beijing ties since 2017, when relations soured following South Korea's decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) to protect itself against possible missile attacks from North Korea.

The deployment enraged Beijing, which responded with swift economic retribution against Seoul. China claims the American anti-ballistic missile defense system enables the U.S. to spy on its territory.