Republic of Korea’s Environmental Diplomacy towards Mongolia and its Achievements

Abstract

ROK’s environmental diplomacy towards Mongolia has made remarkable progress, gradually becoming one of the priorities in Korea-Mongolia’s partnership, arguably contributing to Mongolia’s environmental crisis mitigation and its socioeconomic development. It is analysed in this article that the evolution of such diplomacy is featured with an increasing systematisation, for the emphasis of cooperation shifting to integrate environmental issues with human development, and the participants and approaches diversifying. ROK’s environmental diplomacy towards Mongolia is revealing that, first, Korea’s strengths in technology play role in bolstering an in-depth environmental cooperation; second, the promising bilateral relations guarantee the governments’ consensus and willingness and further promote the effectiveness of addressing transnational environmental issues; third, Korea has made improvements in multilateral institutions as an approach to address the critical environmental crisis. This article concluded that the evolution of ROK’s environmental diplomacy to Mongolia reflects that how Korea, as a middle power, maximizes its national interests through multilateralism.