Ramon Pacheco Pardo is professor of international relations at King’s College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His books include Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop (2022) and, with Victor Cha, Korea: A New History of South and North (2023).
Ramon Pacheco Pardo’s mastery of South Korea and South Korea’s grand strategy are well presented in this book. A must for all who want to see how South Korea has achieved autonomy and freedom of action in approaching the world. -- Sung-han Kim, former South Korean national security adviser Ramon Pacheco Pardo’s new book South Korea’s Grand Strategy is an outstanding assessment of the country’s remarkable journey to become an influential and respected middle power. This book is required reading for those who study South Korean foreign policy as well as scholars of grand strategy. -- Terence Roehrig, author of <i>Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. Nuclear Umbrella: Deterrence After the Cold War</i> In South Korea’s Grand Strategy, Ramon Pacheco Pardo offers a theoretically compelling and empirically rich account explaining how a small, initially inward-looking country developed a formidable grand strategy. Scholars and practitioners interested in grand strategy, foreign policy, East Asian affairs and South Korean politics will benefit greatly from this book. -- Andrew Yeo, Brookings Institution This is an incredibly useful book that illuminates how South Korea thinks about its place in the world, what it aspires to achieve, and how it pursues its objectives. With its lucid and comprehensive presentation of South Korea as an international actor, the book is an excellent text for students and researchers alike. -- Ji-Young Lee, American University