Blue-Water Navy Program as a part of South Korea’s Hedging Strategy
Blue-Water Navy Program as a part of South Korea’s Hedging Strategy

Summary/Abstract: Competing interests of regional countries and the US-China competition in the Asia-Pacific have led a regional security dilemma and debates over power transition between these two strongest powers. This uncertainty about the future landscape of the region pushed South Korea to pursue hedging strategy, using the combination of cooperative and competitive strategic instruments. Considering the security architecture dominated by sea in Asia-Pacific, this study aims to assess South Korea’s blue-water navy program within the framework of its hedging strategy. It will be argued that a more powerful and capable navy will contribute to indirect balancing of China, main trading partner of South Korea and a key actor in dealing with North Korea and also reduce military overdependence of South Korea on the US, its main ally. Such an analysis will also allow reconsidering the roles of carriers in today’s international security context.

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