I think Trump is why Italy is doing such.
IMO, S.K. should not join NATO. Instead, cooperative relationship between S.K. and NATO must be enhanced.
South Korea need to play both sides to survive. Leaning to single side will be really risky.
https://en.sedaily.com/international/2026/06/07/italy-proposes-expanding-nato-to-include-south-korea
Posted by azurebus7th
12 Comments
What? Is this a joke? That would totally undermine the whole concept of NATO. It’s like Serbia joining ASEAN. If South Korea joins, NATO membership would need to be expanded to Australia and Japan. I don’t think South Korea would want to be in the same alliance as Japan either.
What. Trying to drag Asian nations into Europe’s messes? No fkin way.
Isn’t it Western and Southern Europe that most strongly resist the level of military spending that Eastern Europe wants? Are they expecting the South Korean military to fight in their place?
Let’s just change it to OTO. Ocean Treaty Organization.
South Korea is already a NATO partner in multiple initiatives.
Joining as a member makes no sense though.
Add us also then- south asia 🙂
Is this just to give China an excuse to escalate things in Asia?
Utterly delusional thinking coming from those countries who have repeatedly wavered in affirming their commitment to sending forces in the event of Asia-Pacific contingencies. Despite spending only around $50B on its military each year, SK has a far more potent ground force than most of the European NATO members combined, focusing on efficiency and industrial scale.
South korea is given kalangrad and becomes part of nato/s
Y’all are angry at the wrong stuff (and you’d know if you read the article), this isn’t about Korea specifically joining NATO, it’s about redefining NATO to a global alliance consisting of all liberal western-aligned nations including Korea but also Japan, Brazil, etc.
It’s closer to what the UN military intervention apparatus was envisioned to be than “Korea should come defend Europe”.
NATO doesn’t even cover the entirety of its current members’ territories, the North Atlantic Treaty specifically limits Article 5 obligations to the Atlantic above the Tropic of Cancer, putting Hawaii, Guam, French Guiana, etc. outside of its scope. The same reason the Falklands didn’t trigger a NATO intervention. The suggested expansion would entail a fundamental rewriting of the Treaty.
East Asia is already navigating a complex power struggle between the United States and China. On top of that, Japan’s evolving military and strategic role could reshape regional dynamics in ways that should not be underestimated.
While South Korea shares democratic values with many NATO countries and can certainly be a valuable partner, Europe should not depend on Asian allies to compensate for its own defence shortcomings. European security ultimately requires Europe to build sufficient defence capacity and strategic autonomy rather than outsourcing responsibility to partners on the other side of the world.
agree with you here, sk joining nato outright would just provoke china and russia way more than it helps, deeper cooperation without full membership seems like the smarter play