From the U.S.’ potential deployment of an advanced missile defense asset to Korea, to the sharing of military intelligence among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, security issues have been overly politicized here, hindering policymakers’ strategic calculus of national interests. 

Although politicization of such issues is inevitable given the nature of a democracy, its intensity appears to be greater than in other countries due to the political and ideological polarization of South Korean society, observers noted.

“The increasing fragmentation of South Korea’s political arena has arguably led to an erosion of strategic consensus, which subsequently resulted in contrasting calibrations in South Korea’s defense planning processes,” said Michael Raska, research fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, affiliated with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

…“The increasing fragmentation of South Korea’s political arena has arguably led to an erosion of strategic consensus, which subsequently resulted in contrasting calibrations in South Korea’s defense planning processes,” said Michael Raska, research fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, affiliated with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.