The Circumpolar Podcast – Japan & South Korea in the Arctic

In this episode of The Circumpolar, Serafima Andreeva speaks with Alma Karabeg about Japan & South Korea in the Arctic. Photo: Serafima Andreeva

The Circumpolar is a podcast on Arctic geopolitics, governance, and security. Created and hosted by Serafima Andreeva, and supported by The Arctic Institute and the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. The podcast brings together leading experts from various fields of Arctic geopolitics and many Arctic and non-Arctic states to unpack key developments, challenge common misconceptions, and discuss the current dynamics of todays changing Arctic.

Japan and South Korea were admitted as Arctic Council observers in 2013 and are routinely grouped with China as “Asian observers.” Alma Karabeg, a doctoral researcher at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, reads their Arctic strategies as the work of two distinct actors. Japan anchors its engagement in international law and scientific collaboration. South Korea pursues much the same standing while being far more open about economic and maritime interests, backed by a strong shipbuilding and shipping sector.

The conversation traces why sustainability is the lens Karabeg uses to read both strategies, and how science, economy, and geopolitics work as the three categories that organize them. It also examines the part that is rarely stated outright: Arctic engagement as nation-building, with both countries presenting themselves as peaceful contributors rather than claimants to territory or resources.

On Russia, the episode looks at how sanctions since 2022 sit uneasily with Japanese and South Korean economic interests (Japan continues to import Russian gas), and why science diplomacy gives both countries a room for maneuver less available to Western states. It closes on the Northern Sea route, Korea’s investment in Busan, and a policy recommendation for European Arctic states: coordinate on cargo, data, and port infrastructure rather than wait.