According to conventional wisdom, South Korea is caught between its long-term ally, the United States, and its largest trading partner, China. Though South Korea cooperates with the United States for a great deal of its security, including its extended nuclear deterrence, China and Hong Kong accounted for 23.7 percent of South Korean exports in 2023.

Because of this, South Korea is often portrayed as hopelessly and dangerously dependent on China for its trade and even its economic survival. Though this view of the South Korean economy and trade position is compelling, it is wrong.

According to conventional wisdom, South Korea is caught between its long-term ally, the United States, and its largest trading partner, China. Though South Korea cooperates with the United States for a great deal of its security, including its extended nuclear deterrence, China and Hong Kong accounted for 23.7 percent of South Korean exports in 2023.

Because of this, South Korea is often portrayed as hopelessly and dangerously dependent on China for its trade and even its economic survival. Though this view of the South Korean economy and trade position is compelling, it is wrong.

The economic relationship between South Korea and China is better characterized as one of asymmetric interdependence: The two countries are dependent on each other, even if the sheer size of the Chinese economy means that South Korea relies more on its trade partner than vice versa.

This matters profoundly for South Korean foreign policy because it means that Seoul does not have to hedge between Beijing and Washington in a bid to preserve economic relations with China, as some analysts posit.

The idea is catching on in South Korea, where a growing number of policymakers and businesspeople have quietly moved away from the view that their country or their firms are irremediably dependent on China. The result is that Seoul has become bolder in siding with Western countries and challenging China when its interests are at stake.

The situation looked different not long ago. In 2015, under President Park Geun-hye, South Korea signed a free trade agreement with Beijing. By 2018, exports to China and Hong Kong peaked at 34.4 percent of South Korea’s total. South Korean investment in China had declined from the record numbers registered in the 2000s, but flows

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