Author Description

South Korea faces challenging choices as the great-power rivalry between the United States and China intensifies. The Republic of Korea (ROK) is a global leader in the design and production of critical advanced semiconductor-related technologies and aspires to duplicate that success in the burgeoning electric vehicle marketplace. However, South Korea’s policy options are complicated by its needs to remain closely tied to the United States and to maintain a generally nonhostile relationship with China.In this report, the authors describe their key insights from an analytical policy game they designed and executed that featured two scenarios: In the first, the United States expands measures against China and its indirect pressures on South Korea, and in the second, China offers incentives to South Korea to encourage elevated cooperation between Seoul and Beijing in the semiconductor industry. The players were divided into two teams: One focused on security and diplomacy while the other focused on economic growth and innovation. The teams discussed potential policy choices for South Korea regarding its role in the global semiconductor and electric vehicle battery supply chains in the context of these scenarios, and this report summarizes their perspectives and recommendations for balancing South Korea’s economic, geopolitical, and technologies equities.