KJCKorea
Journal Central

As the global digital economy continues to develop and regional economic and trade patterns constantly adjust, digital trade between South Korea and China is gradually becoming a new breakthrough point for bilateral cooperation and a new driving force for regional integration. Based on UNCTAD data on South Korea-China digital trade from 2015 to 2024, this paper explores the characteristics and competitiveness of South Korea-China digital trade using indicators such as RCA and ESI, and analyzes its driving factors using the CMS model. Empirical results show that the growth rate of South Korea-China digital trade exhibits characteristics of high structural concentration, differentiated competitiveness, and asymmetrical market dependence. Regarding driving factors, the primary driver of China's digital trade export growth to South Korea is the structural effect. Second-order decomposition results show that the contribution of the growth effect in the first and second stages is greater than that of the product structure effect, while the contribution of the product structure effect in the third and fourth stages is greater than that of the growth effect. Similarly, the primary driver of South Korea's digital trade export growth to China is the structural effect. Further,second-order decomposition reveals that the contribution of the product structure effect is higher than that of the growth effect. The findings of this paper enrich the applied research on the driving factors of digital trade and promoting the development of digital trade between South Korea and China, and the Asia, and for reshaping China's competitive advantage in digital trade.

Against the backdrop of intensifying geopolitical and geo-economic competition alongside the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic security has emerged as a core consideration in national strategic planning, exerting a profound influence on the development of regional economic cooperation in Northeast Asia. As major economic actors in the region, cooperation among the Republic of Korea, China and Japan has inevitably been readjusted amid the trend of securitization of economic issues.Based on the bounded rationality theory, this paper establishes an analytical framework consisting of economic security perception, policy path selection and evolution of cooperation patterns, and systematically analyzes the dynamic impacts of the three countries’ perceptions of economic security on their economic cooperation. The results show that while the three countries share certain common understandings of economic security, their respective perceptions differ substantially. Accordingly, they have adopted distinct approaches and policy paths to safeguard economic security, which has led to marked phased changes in trilateral economic cooperation. To be specific, the cooperation has undergone three stages: an in-depth development phase underpinned by the consensus of "efficiency priority", a constrained development phase dominated by the mindset of "security priority", and a newly revitalized phase driven by recent adjustments in relevant perceptions.Going forward, the three countries need to mitigate practical constraints on cooperation by strengthening high-level dialogues, expanding practical cooperation in low-politics areas, and fostering positive interaction between bilateral ties and trilateral cooperation. Meanwhile, they should further consolidate trilateral collaboration to jointly uphold economic security and accelerate regional economic integration.

Amidst the intensifying China–US strategic rivalry and the reconfiguration of global supply chains, economic security has emerged as a pivotal variable defining states’ external economic relations. As a middle power with a highly export-oriented economy, the Republic of Korea(ROK) has continuously deepened its understanding of economic security. By promoting market diversification and bolstering its industrial competitiveness, ROK seeks to hedge risks in its economic and trade relations with China. Under these circumstances, China-ROK economic cooperation is undergoing a profound transition, from an efficiency-driven paradigm to one increasingly centered on security and risk management. At present, bilateral cooperation faces a number of practical challenges, including constrained cooperation in key industries and technological sectors, transformation pressures arising from the combined effects of shifting comparative advantages and security logic, as well as the risk of the over-securitization of economic issues and the weakening of cooperative momentum. China and the ROK should proceed from the shared objective of safeguarding regional supply chain resilience and the multilateral economic and trade order, promote the transformation and upgrading of bilateral cooperation, and achieve a balance between economic security and economic efficiency.