On 25 April 2022 the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade (IFAT) and Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy jointly organised a conference titled “Incomplete transitions in Eurasia and the economic and security cooperation between Korea and V4” focusing on the cooperation of the Visegrad countries and the Republic of Korea and on current political and economic dynamics of Eurasia. Hosted in the Marriott Hotel, Budapest, the event was opened by Mr. Márton Ugrósdy, Director of IFAT and H.E. Mr. Park Chul-min, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Hungary. Keynote speakers of the seminar were Mr. Tamás Vargha, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Mr. Hong Hyunik, Chancellor of Korea National Diplomatic Academy.
The first panel titled “FDI experiences of Korean companies in V4 countries and its lessons for the economic transition in the Korean Peninsula”, was moderated by Mr. Péter Goreczky senior analyst at IFAT. The distinguished experts were Ms. Ha You Jung lecturer at the University of Sheffield, Mr. Park Kee-Won director of the Budapest office of KOTRA, and Ms. Joanna Beckowska research associate at the Centre for Asian Affairs at the University of Lodz. Ms. Ha commenced by describing the V4 region as a favourable FDI destination due to relative political stability, low labour costs, and proximity to West Europe. She said that Korean companies tend to expand their activities; although, periodically downsizing can occur according to changing priorities such as changing from television panel making to electronic vehicle manufacturing. Mr. Park continued highlighting the importance of well-built infrastructure and government actions such as building industrial parks and tax cuts. He was confident that there is still room for expanding Korean investment in the V4. Ms. Beckowska expressed her views on how V4 countries should adopt similar strategies to Korean national branding, meaning that techniques of K-things (K-pop, etc.) could be implemented and used for the branding culture of the V4 countries. She had a more critical tone regarding Korean FDI inflow since it generates asymmetric exchanges. The more tech transfer happens, the more improvement is going to undertake concerning export qualities, being more beneficial for FDI receiver countries. She advocated that V4 should improve its technology while not interfering with Korean development sectors. Developing nuclear energy and transport can have huge potential not to mention security-related cooperation being more important as the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The second panel was titled “The halted transitions in Eurasia”. The current security landscape in Europe and its consequences for economic security in Eurasia was moderated by Mr. Viktor Eszterhai senior research fellow of IFAT. The speakers were Ms. Kang Seonjou professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, Mr. David Morris research fellow at the Corvinus University of Budapest, and Mr. Gergely Salát a senior research fellow at IFAT. Ms. Kang highlighted that Russia’s current actions are evidence of the incomplete transition. In contrast to Russia, V4 countries have managed to undertake reforms in the political and the economic sphere, leading to the situations in which these countries nicely fit in the picture of globalization. She is convinced that two separate systems are going to be developed as a consequence of the end of the post-cold war system and the decoupling between China and the United States. Authoritarian and democratic differences started to characterize the rivalry between the two blocks. All this led to deglobalization where economic considerations are overtaken by security and political ones. Mr. Morris developed his idea that Anglo-Saxon and English narratives are strict security-based which is similar to the worldview of other empires. This worldview was manifested as the “end of history” narrative after the cold war. He suggested that critical discussions should be used more frequently to overcome biases. Mr. Salát opened with a statement that history is back (after the “end of history” notion) but we do not know where it leads. He argued that the West might not be in a position to push back against China, let alone upkeep its current influence. He highlighted that not all the countries had sided with the West in terms of the sanctions against Russia, such as India. He expressed that multipolarity is on the rise and China is not a power wanting to restore the bipolar world order. China has no incentive to join the sanctions since it will not be treated differently by the West if it degrades its relations with Russia. He argued Russia must be stopped, but at the same time should not be humiliated because it can get more extreme and dangerous as a consequence. His closing remarks are that besieged fortresses we are thus we need to develop our military, along with respecting other cultures and avoiding lecturing other societies.
The third panel titled “Great power rivalry in the Indo-Pacific” was moderated by Ms. Kang Seonjou professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy. Participating guests were Ms. Jun Hae-Won associate professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, Mr. Tibor Mezei research fellow at IFAT, and Mr. Grajcan Cimek chair of international relations at the Polish Naval Academy in Gdynia. Mr. Cimek began his argument by describing Eurasia as a continent that is under the influence of hegemonic and counterhegemonic processes. On the one hand, hegemonic ambitions are characterized by the “Summit for Democracy” which is for strengthening cooperation between like-minded countries, on the other hand, counterhegemonic attempts are BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Chinese-Russian relations, and building a “new era” international politics. Mr. Mezei stated his idea that Thucydides’ trap is not happening right now since the United States can no longer be identified as a hegemon. He believed that the age of hegemons is overdue to systemic changes that had occurred after the Cold War. He characterized the Chinese methodology of world order building as bilateral since it wants to use its leverage given by its relative strength while the United States focuses on multilateral formats. Ms Jun raised her sceptical question about the willingness of the Europeans or the V4 countries to come to the aid of their partners in the Indo-Pacific. She further indicated her scepticism about strengthening South-Korean relations with European partners at the expense of Chinese security concerns because she believed that it is not worth it.