Korea’s regional economic role

The deepening of economic integration in Northeast Asia and East Asia as a whole will be a major dynamic of change that will accelerate in the coming years, and the ROK is well positioned to play a number of critical roles in the way that this process unfolds. There are limits, however, on what can feasibly be expected. Korea's ambitions to be a larger regional player should be tempered by political and market realism. Continuing efforts to improve the business environment in the ROK to attract FDI will need to accompany efforts to expand regional roles. It also seems inevitable that coordination of political and security dimensions to the US-ROK relationship with the implications of the ROK's growing regional economic activities and relationships will become more complex and demanding on both countries in the future, and both should be prepared for this likelihood.