Indonesia and South Korea share a similar stance as middle powers in the Indo-Pacific region amid the increasing rivalry between the United States and China by preferring cooperation between all parties, experts and officials have said. In the past three years, South Korea has sought to diversify its diplomatic engagement beyond its traditional partners through its New Southern Policy, an initiative to increase engagement with countries in Southeast Asia and India. Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, has become one of the East Asian country’s priorities. South Korean President Moon Jae-in was on a state visit to Jakarta in November 2017 when he introduced the initiative. Three years later, at the 21st ASEAN-Korea Summit, Moon announced that the policy would be upgraded to the New Southern Policy Plus (NSP+). The new initiative aims to strengthen and expand th...