Publication

South Korea's 2012 presidential campaign pits the conservative ruling Saenuri party and progressive opposition Democratic Unity Party (DUP) against each-other. The author argues that both campaigns have focused on domestic economic issues, obscuring their foreign policy differences as they converge to the center. This reflects public consensus on foreign policy fundamentals, such as strong public support for the alliance with the United States, support for renewed dialogue with North Korea to stabilize inter-Korean relations, growing concern about the impact of a rising China, rising discomfort with the direction of politics in Japan, and support for sustaining South Korea's contributions to the global agenda.