CSIS advocates for Group of 9 with addition of Korea

The U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies called for an expansion of the G7 to a G9 with Korea and Australia to address the growing global influence of China.

The U.S. President Joe Biden arrived at Brindisi Airport in southern Italy to attend the G7 summit. [AP/YONHAP]

Discussions on Korea joining the G7 are progressing lately as the country's key role in protecting the supply chain of advanced technology is gaining acknowledgement in the face of the evolving bloc of China, Russia and others.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the United States suggested expanding the G7 to a G9 by including Korea and Australia, as its current membership is skewed towards Europe, which held more power in the past.

With growing competition from China, however, the United States needs Asian partners like Korea and Taiwan, as they maintain future economic and security-determining technologies such as AI and cutting-edge semiconductors.

“A reimagined G7 should be more representative of the world as it is and will be, not as it was. The current G7 is Eurocentric and has only one Asian nation representing the entire region. Australia and South Korea would bring representation for two advanced countries in the Indo-Pacific region, with the latter demonstrating significant advancements in the economies of the future, including computing, AI and technology," according to the CSIS report.

It further added “South Korea is a major provider of economic and indirect military assistance to Ukraine, and it is a critical player in protecting emerging technology supply chains.”

The CSIS suggested that to accommodate the membership of Korea and Australia, the seats held by EU entities should be integrated, or if it is impossible to exclude any existing European countries, the EU should give up one of its seats.

The G7 currently comprises the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy and Canada. In 1975, the group started as the G6 without Canada, which joined in 1976, and their combined GDP accounted for 60 percent of the world's total. The annual meetings of these advanced countries' leaders practically set the policy tone for the rest of the world.

The G7’s share of global GDP peaked at 66.9 percent in 1992, but has since fallen to 43.4 percent. This decline is largely due to China’s GDP share soaring from 3 percent in the 1970s to 18 percent.

Notably, discussions about adding Korea to the G7 are emerging with unanimous agreement in the United States, overcoming the sharp partisanship gripping politics ahead of the presidential election.

The idea of Korea's membership began in May 2020 when then-President Donald Trump mentioned expanding to a G11 by adding Korea, Australia, India and Russia.

However, the notion fell away with the Biden administration, and when the possibility of Korea’s inclusion was raised ahead of last year’s G7 summit in Hiroshima, the U.S. State Department said it was not aware of any discussions regarding changes in membership.

Last November, Ron Klain, a close aide to President Joe Biden and former White House chief of staff, reignited the discussion in an article for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, saying that given the challenges posed by China, it is reasonable to add Korea and Australia from the Asia-Pacific region to form a G9.

Since Asia is key to the U.S. security strategy, it is necessary to replace European members with Asian countries, said Elbridge Colby, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development and a potential candidate for National Security Advisor in a Trump administration, in an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily. He went on to express support for the replacement of Canada with Korea if necessary to persuade Europe.

Korea’s addition to the group would signify a transformation from a "rule-taker"’ that follows the rules set by the advanced countries to a "rule-maker" that directly creates the rules, a diplomatic source noted.

Although all current members agree on the need to expand participation of like-minded countries that share their values, their positions differ due to their own national interests.

Currently, the forces opposing Korea’s entry into the G7 consist of European countries concerned about weakened influence in the group by an increase in member nations.

The only European country that has expressed support is the United Kingdom, which left the EU. Japan, the sole Asian member, also appears to be reluctant to welcome Korea’s participation due to a potential reduction of its own stake in the G7. The permeating reluctance is reflected in the lack of an invitation to President Yoon Suk Yeol to the recent G7 summits scheduled to be held in June this year.

Korea was officially invited to the G7 summit hosted by the United States during the Trump administration in 2020 and to the United Kingdom’s summit in 2021.

Last year, Japan also invited Korea, but at the time the U.S.’ continued push for strengthening of the United States-Korea-Japan alliance reportedly influenced the decision.

On the other hand, Germany and Italy, the host countries in 2022 and 2024, respectively, both excluded Korea from their invitation list.

The CSIS lambasted this exclusion, stating that while ambitious global agendas such as AI and economic security were proposed at Hiroshima, Italy diverted the agenda to African migrant problems, which are European-focused agendas, ignoring continuity.

It went on to say that the discontinuity in the global agenda and a lack of follow-up measures create confusion in the international community, issuing apparent criticism of the exclusion of Korea, a key cooperative country particularly in the fields of AI and economic security.

BY KANG TAE-HWA, CHOI HAE-JIN [choi.haejin@joongang.co.kr]