Seoul's Silence: Why South Korea Cannot Afford to Take a Side on Taiwan

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

South Korea is an American treaty ally. It hosts 28,500 American troops, maintains one of the largest and most capable military forces in Asia, and has built its security architecture around the American alliance since the Korean War armistice of 1953. In any straightforward reading of alliance logic, Seoul should be a reliable partner in a Taiwan contingency. The reading is not straightforward. South Korea’s Taiwan position is defined by a set of structural constraints that make explicit commitment to Taiwan’s defense politically impossible in Korean domestic politics and strategically dangerous given Korea’s specific vulnerability profile.

South Korea on Taiwan Strait

Seoul's Silence: Why South Korea Cannot Afford to Take a Side on Taiwan