Italy and South Korea’s Indo-Pacific Compass: Charting a Course for Enhanced Coordination

Redefining the Asia-Pacific as the Indo-Pacific has seen a commensurate rise in interest from a range of actors on the international stage. Italy and South Korea have not been immune to these developments but stand out in relation to being late arrivals in terms of defining the formal articulation of their national policy to the region. This chapter explores the origins, rationales, and policies set forth in Seoul and Rome’s engagements with the Indo-Pacific; assesses challenges in implementing these visions and explores how they can best approach it within the context of their broader strategic partnership. It highlights in particular the shared commonalities and draws attention to the parallel interest and activities they have in one case study, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In that vein, the contribution offers a number of policy recommendations for developing new and sustained mechanisms for coordination with regard to the Indo-Pacific region.