Chile and South Korea: Implications for a Twenty-First Century Partnership

The strategy of reinsertion international by Chile during the 1990s involved gradually recovering its historic place in the global system, for which the strengthening of ties with various regional blocs, particularly in the Pacific, seemed to be a great challenge for our foreign policy.

It aimed at consolidating the existing ties with regional leaders, such as the People's Republic of China and Japan, but also opted to develop a relationship with emerging powers such as South Korea, which by that time was our second-most important Asian partner.

South Korea is, in effect, one of the fastest growing economies in recent years, becoming the twelfth-largest economy in the world with a population of almost 50 million.

For Chile, a business partnership with South Korea has meant the consolidation of the major markets for our exports, achieving significant benefits for products protected by high tariffs, in addition to this, the increase in trade between the two countries which, according to figures DIRECON, reached 110% two years since the FTA came into force.

We speak of a beneficial business partnership, but we must not forget the excellent state of our political and diplomatic relations, which have involved the implementation of agreements that have strengthened the work of government agencies in both countries, the establishment of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, telecommunications, immigration, inter alia.

South Korea is a giant in the region and, therefore, strengthening ties with them means being equal to the challenge, having to maintain political-institutional strength, macroeconomic stability and promotion of research and development policies. This last point is crucial to R&D: agreements intended to deepen the expansion of ties in the field of education.

At the Korean Studies Program at the University of Chile, we have made that commitment, trying to create in the academy the necessary space to conduct research in conjunction with Korean institutions, to facilitate academic exchange of professors and students between both countries and thus contribute to an increase in studies on South Korea.

The first step has been taken, but how to deal with the challenges imposed by the regional system in a dynamic and globalized as the Pacific Rim, will depend on the prestige and benefits gained from this association, which at this stage may be called "strategic".