► South Korea’s active participation in and forward-leaning engagements during the G-7 summit was welcomed in addressing mounting global issues.

► As a leading free market economy, a vibrant democracy, and a time-tested strategic ally of the United States, South Korea is a fitting pivot for the much-needed regeneration of the G-7 and stands out as one of the most capable partners for G-7.

► Initiating dialogues and shaping relevant agenda on the expansion of the G-7 by inviting South Korea as a new member deserves timely and serious consideration by the U.S. and Japan, along with Italy that will host the 50th G-7 summit in June 2024.

The recent Group of Seven (G-7) leaders’ summit in Japan’s Hiroshima from May 19 to 20, where the world's leading prosperous democracies gathered to coordinate common positions on various tasks confronting the world, was yet another venue for South Korea to conduct its ongoing proactive global diplomacy.

Indeed, the Hiroshima G-7 summit was a critical inflection point for the group’s 49th gathering in light of the current war in Ukraine provoked by Russia, security and economic challenges stemming from China, and other matters. South Korea’s active participation in and forward-leaning engagements during the summit was welcomed by the G-7 in addressing mounting global issues. The Hiroshima gathering was the fourth time for South Korea’s president to be invited to attend the G-7.

The G-7, formed in the 1970s in the midst of the need for unity among the world’s largest industrial democracies when the then-Soviet Union appeared to be winning the Cold War, accounts for nearly 50 percent of today’s global wealth as a combined group. While there are no formal criteria for membership in this informal multilateral group, they are all democracies and close U.S. treaty allies. The group now meets annually to discuss shared global security issues and economic matters.

From a broader foreign policy perspective, as the global economy faces growing, complex issues on multiple fronts in which Russia and China both pose grave and wide-ranging challenges, the G-7 needs to be reinvigorated to remain credible and relevant. The strength of the values-driven alliance must be reinforced and amplified.

South Korea’s Quest for G-7: Not Simply about Membership, but about Operationalizing the U.S.- South Korea Alliance Globally

Perhaps reflecting such a critical imperative for the G-7, Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, described the group as “the steering committee of the free world –whether on sanctions or energy security or delivering global policy”.

Washington’s elevated focus on the G-7, as opposed to the broader-based, more diverse Group of 20 of which South Korea is a member and will have its annual summit in India’s Delhi in September, is not unintended. The emphasis on the G-7 signals the forced, abrupt swift shift from an era of global geopolitics predominantly dominated by economics and globalization to a new yet demanding chapter that requires like-minded and willing partners in more effectively dealing with illiberal and authoritarian forces as well as other challenges facing the world.

To that end, South Korea is a fitting pivot for the much-needed regeneration of the G-7. As a leading free market economy, a vibrant democracy, and a time-tested strategic ally of the United States, South Korea stands out as one of the most capable partners for G-7.

Once a recipient of U.S. development assistance, South Korea has become one of the most competitive economies in the world and notably transformed itself from a security consumer to America’s capable and reliable partner in providing security to other nations. The 70-year-long alliance has a track record of supporting mutual interests of the two like-minded nations across the Pacific while overcoming challenges and adapting to ever-changing global economic and security environments. South Korea has proven itself to be America’s trusted, qualified security and business partner.

It is notable that President Yoon Suk Yeol unambiguously underscored in his recent address to a joint session of Congress during his state visit to Washington to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the alliance with the United States,

Our Alliance was forged 70 years ago to defend Korea’s freedom. The Alliance has now become a global alliance that safeguards freedom and peace around the world. Korea will fulfill its responsibilities. It will play its part that matches its economic capacity.

The importance of sustaining and advancing freedom and peace that President Yoon laid out has been the essential pillar of the enduring relationship between the United States and South Korea. And that unique and proven partnership deserves to be elevated and deepened through greater practical cooperation on security and economic fronts concerning mutual global interests and challenges.

Indeed, South Korea’s potential pursuit of the possible G-7 membership should be not just about achieving a renewed and elevated global diplomatic status, but it should focus on further advancing the U.S.- South Korea bilateral alliance into the global stage. The G-7 is a logical next frontier and strategic venue for further operationalizing the U.S.-South Korea alliance, particularly in the context of preserving and enlarging the free, open, and democratic spaces that can bridge Indo-Pacific and transatlantic communities.

The Way Forward

Seizing greater strategic clarity and refinement, particularly at this critical juncture of an evolving geopolitical environment, would be a fulfilling way to gain from an ever-evolving partnership on key policy fronts to move the U.S.-South Korea bilateral alliance onward and upward into the G-7 frame and beyond.

As a matter of fact, South Korea, which knows how to make, build, and reconstruct, has already become one of the principal U.S. partners in addressing an array of global challenges, as well as in working together on diplomatic opportunities. In the world of development assistance, with its increasing emphasis on the vital role of the private sector in achieving durable economic growth and public health, enhancing U.S.–South Korea cooperation presents a unique opportunity. Such a case-by-case partnership would, in turn, reinforce other vital economic and diplomatic linkages between the two trade and investment partners.

More specifically, further cultivating such linkages and value-chains will enhance the momentum “to develop a Global Comprehensive Strategic Alliance between Korea and the United States by tapping into Korea's heightened status and national power as a country standing shoulder to shoulder with the G-7 countries” as recently elaborated by Foreign Minister Park Jin. He further underscored in his recent commentary,

“Global” means the geographic scope of the alliance extends above and beyond the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia to the Indo-Pacific region and the world, and “comprehensive” subsumes military, economic, and technological alliances. “Strategic alliance” indicates that the two countries have a shared strategic interest in safeguarding core values ​​such as freedom, democracy and human rights, rather than just their immediate national interests, and that they will actively cooperate to strengthen an international order conducive to those values.

In that pragmatic context, President Yoon and his foreign policy team marked the recent three-day visit to Hiroshima for the G-7 gathering with a number of concrete, noteworthy steps of improving relations with Japan, pledging to do more for the global community, and holding his first-ever meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which President Yoon promised additional non-lethal aid while reaffirming South Korea's support for Ukraine.

For South Korea to continue to proactively engage with the free world as a core, proven member, formulating effective foreign policies that serve South Korea’s broad national interests requires both strength and focus. Forging greater pragmatic cooperation with willing allies necessitates forward-looking engagement and fine-tuning the trajectory of alliances and practical partnerships. Importantly, the U.S. ally South Korea is also NATO’s trusted, capable partner. It is certainly in the interest of Washington to welcome such a timely interaction between America’s vital Indo–Pacific partner and key transatlantic allies.

The latest G-7 summit highlighted that ensuring the unity and the relevance of G-7 is far more pressing, as the world’s free-market democracies are being confronted by Russia and China, both of which long ago voluntarily decoupled themselves from the values of free-market democracy that encompass the rule of law, openness, and respect for human rights.

South Korea is one of the best examples of an ally putting its alliance with the United States into action. Since the signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty 70 years ago, time and time again, South Korea has proven to be a reliable and steadfast U.S. ally in dealing with many challenges. Throughout many trying and difficult times over the past seven decades, South Korea has demonstrated its willingness and capacity to work with the U.S. toward shared goals.

Now is the time for Washington and Seoul to build on that steadfastness and notch up the pivotal free market democracy partnership to the next level and advance the proven alliance into coming decades and elevated frontiers.

For that matter, initiating dialogues and shaping relevant agenda on the expansion of the G-7 by inviting South Korea as a new member deserves timely and serious consideration by the U.S. and Japan, along with Italy that will host the 50th G-7 summit in June 2024.

Seoul can and should start now working towards that strategic global diplomacy step by step.