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The UN General Assembly voted on June 6 to include South Korea as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, with 180 out of 192 member states in voting in favor. (Yonhap)

After South Korea’s election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the first time in 11 years, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration expressed hopes that this will lay the groundwork for Seoul to play a leading role in international discussions on matters such as the response to the North Korean nuclear program.

Presidential office spokesperson Lee Do-woon quoted Yoon on Wednesday as having called the election a “victory for global diplomacy.” In the administration’s assessment, the diplomatic strategy with Yoon’s emphasis on “values diplomacy” contributed to South Korea winning its seat as a non-permanent UNSC member.

In an election of non-permanent UNSC members for the 2024–25 term at the UN headquarters in New York at 10 am on Tuesday, South Korea was chosen with votes from 180 out of 192 participating member countries.

The UNSC is the only international organization with primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security and with the authority to make binding decisions on matters such as economic sanctions against UN member nations. It consists of 15 members at any given time, including five permanent members (the US, China, Russia, the UK and France) and 10 non-permanent members.

The 10 non-permanent members are assigned by continent on a term-based system where five nations per year are switched out.

South Korea was elected as the only candidate from the Asia-Pacific group. The other countries elected to join as non-permanent members that day were Algeria, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Guyana.

This is South Korea’s third time as a non-permanent UNSC member, after previous periods in 1996–97 and 2013–14.

During a briefing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ahn Eun-ju said that through South Korea’s UNSC membership, the administration planned to lead discussions on peacekeeping activities and the promotion of peace; issues related to women, peace, and security; cyber security; and overcoming climate change.

In particular, the administration plans to speak out actively on a response to the North Korean nuclear and missile issues in the framework of the UNSC, where it previously had little voice.

“As a direct party to Korean Peninsula issues and a UNSC member, we expect that it will be possible for us to play a leading role in a response to the North Korean nuclear and missile issues,” said National Security Office First Deputy Director Kim Tae-hyo in a briefing.

But with UNSC permanent members China and Russia holding veto powers over discussions on North Korea, analysts predict that Seoul will have difficulty presenting any concrete additional measures.

Referring to the situation next year where South Korea, the US and Japan will all be UNSC members — the US as a permanent member and Japan as a non-permanent member for the 2023–24 term — Kim Tae-hyo predicted, “Plans for coordination could be strengthened substantially through linkages within the UNSC framework.”

He added that South Korea “appears likely to play a leading role in the process of ending the war in Ukraine and in the course of handling the postwar situation based on international norms.”

By Jang Ye-ji, staff reporter; Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

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