City Diplomacy in South Korea: Trends and Characteristics

This research aims to analyze the external activities of local governments in South Korea from the perspective of the developing trends in city diplomacy, contrary to the conventional and narrow concept regarding local government's international exchange and cooperation as a public diplomacy. In detail, this research intends to illustrate the following: first, to differentiate South Korean local governments' growing commitment to international affairs from public diplomacy; second, to highlight the integration of public diplomacy with other forms of diplomacy within the framework of city diplomacy. This research argues that city diplomacy in South Korea has gradually shown the following three trends and characteristics. First, South Korean local governments have recognized the importance of participating in multilateral diplomacy via city networks to find compelling solutions to non-traditional and transnational security threats. They perceive this external activity as an opportunity for policy sharing and problem-solving with foreign partners. Second, local governments in South Korea have been fostering various ways to institutionalize their involvement in foreign affairs and organizations, such as amendments to related laws and the launching of task forces, to pursue so-called sustainable and systematic international exchange and cooperation. Lastly, South Korean local governments have constructed multiple channels and multilevel governance in the form of public-private partnerships to enhance policy expertise and cope with diverse agendas.