South Korea is one of the world’s top ten trading nations, with a GDP, by some estimates, close to $2 trillion, and a dynamic, rich economy. It is an open, liberal country with a thriving democracy. It hopes to be taken seriously on the world stage, and many at home feel proud at the mention of South Korean culture being consumed by ever more people worldwide.

Yet South Korea continues to maintain its status as a self-styled weakling in the international system, caught between China and the United States in a great power rivalry on the Korean peninsula and Northeast