The Park Geun-hye administration started with an ambitious middle-power foreign policy agenda. But as President Park’s time in office seems set to come to an end, South Korea’s middle power prestige may fall victim to South Korea’s domestic politics. Park had several policies seeking to utilize South Korea’s middle power status. The "Eurasia Initiative" aimed to establish a logistics and energy network through North Korea, Russia, Central Asia and on to Europe.

Tehran and Seoul opened their joint technology exchange center in a ceremony [...] President Park, in her meeting with the her Iranian counterpart, emphasized the need to revitalize trade and diversify cooperation to encompass investment and construction of such infrastructure projects...

Korea and China celebrate the 24th anniversary of diplomatic relations on Aug. 24, but bilateral ties have suffered considerably in recent months due to Seoul's decision to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system here. Amid rising tensions between the two countries, President Park Geun-hye will visit China to attend the 11th G20 summit in Hangzhou on Sept. 4 to 5.

South Korea's Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed an enforcement ordinance of the public diplomacy act, marking yet another move to bolster the country's diplomatic profile on the global stage. [...] The new ordinance is expected to offer fresh momentum for South Korea's efforts to court foreign countries to promote its commercial and cultural products and bolster multilateral security cooperation.

South Korean media are already abuzz with "imminent" Chinese retaliation to the Park Geun-hye government's announcement to host the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system. Has China suddenly become a vengeful hegemon? Even until January this year, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se characterized Seoul-Beijing ties as the "best ever."