@article{ART003383478},
author={Kim Ha-eun},
title={Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics},
journal={Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies},
issn={1225-8539},
year={2026},
volume={33},
number={3},
pages={95-146},
doi={10.18107/japs.2026.33.3.004}
TY - JOUR
AU - Kim Ha-eun
TI - Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics
JO - Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies
PY - 2026
VL - 33
IS - 3
PB - Institute of Global Affairs
SP - 95
EP - 146
SN - 1225-8539
AB - Despite escalating domestic alarm over China’s expanding gray–zone activities in the West Sea—including fixed structures and observation buoys in the Provisional Measures Zone, navigation restrictions, and interference with Korean maritime surveys—South Korea’s executive branch has kept its response within normal politics. Applying the Copenhagen School’s securitization theory, this article investigates where the securitization process stalled despite sustained securitizing pressure from the press and the National Assembly. This article argues that while the press and National Assembly frequently made securitizing moves and occasionally demanded exceptional measures, executive discourse acknowledged security implications without publicly justifying exceptional action. Drawing on large –language–model–assisted coding of press, legislative, and executive discourse and a longitudinal reconstruction of policy documents, the study identifies an uneven configuration of facilitating conditions: the ambiguity of the gray–zone activities left room for competing interpretations of the same conduct, explicit threat framing was not joined to executive justification of exceptional measures, and security framing varied across executive institutions rather than converging on a common justification for exceptional action. The findings show how a target state can acknowledge and respond to gray–zone activities while continuing to process them through legal, diplomatic, and law–enforcement instruments. The West Sea case demonstrates that securitization can stall after threat recognition, at the point where a recognized threat would have to be joined to authoritative justification of exceptional action.
KW - Securitization;Gray–zone Coercion;Limited Policy Response;West Sea;Korea–China Maritime Relations
DO - 10.18107/japs.2026.33.3.004
ER -
Kim Ha-eun. (2026). Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics. Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, 33(3), 95-146.
Kim Ha-eun. 2026, "Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics", Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, vol.33, no.3 pp.95-146. Available from: doi:10.18107/japs.2026.33.3.004
Kim Ha-eun "Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics" Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 33.3 pp.95-146 (2026) : 95.
Kim Ha-eun. Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics. 2026; 33(3), 95-146. Available from: doi:10.18107/japs.2026.33.3.004
Kim Ha-eun. "Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics" Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 33, no.3 (2026) : 95-146.doi: 10.18107/japs.2026.33.3.004
Kim Ha-eun. Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics. Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, 33(3), 95-146. doi: 10.18107/japs.2026.33.3.004
Kim Ha-eun. Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics. Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies. 2026; 33(3) 95-146. doi: 10.18107/japs.2026.33.3.004
Kim Ha-eun. Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics. 2026; 33(3), 95-146. Available from: doi:10.18107/japs.2026.33.3.004
Kim Ha-eun. "Loud Outcry, Quiet Policy: Where Securitization Stalled in South Korea’s Response to China’s West Sea Gray–Zone Tactics" Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 33, no.3 (2026) : 95-146.doi: 10.18107/japs.2026.33.3.004
