South Korea Begins Hydropower Development in the Solomon Islands

The Tina River Hydropower Development Project is underway on the Tina River, pictured above. (Flickr)

Construction on the USD-240.8-million Tina River Hydropower Development Project, the  Solomon Islands’ first utility-scale hydroelectric dam, began on November 5, 2025. Upon completion in 2028, the dam will power 66 percent of Honiara, the nation’s capital. This latest undertaking in the Solomon Islands is the product of a strategic foreign investment spearheaded by an often-overlooked player in the region: South Korea.

Although Korean presence in the Pacific islands dates back to forced labor migration under Japanese colonial rule, official South Korean engagement in the region has been sporadic since the establishment of its first official independent government in 1948. Between 2011 and 2022, the South Korean foreign minister held no more than four meetings with Pacific island countries (PICs), and aid was few and far between.

But PICs have seen an unprecedented increase in South Korean engagement since 2022, a policy shift attributable to former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s determination to see the Republic of Korea (R.O.K.) recognized internationally as a “global pivotal state.” The Pacific islands played a key role in Yoon’s vision, as PIC shipping routes and fishing zones determine the freedom and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific as a whole. In December 2022, the R.O.K. published the Indo-Pacific Strategy, identifying the need to expand “engagement with the Pacific Island Countries with whom we share the Pacific Ocean” in the areas of climate, health, fisheries, and renewable energy. Between 2022 and 2024, the Yoon administration made notable progress in advancing these policies as foreign policy priorities, beyond just the investment front.

The first international summit former President Yoon Suk Yeol hosted after taking office was the inaugural Korea-Pacific Islands Summit in May 2023, where Yoon expressed his desire that “Korea and Pacific island nations cultivate a strong partnership of mutual trust and reliance.” To celebrate, the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs sponsored Weaving Blue, an exhibition in Seoul featuring photographs and items hand-crafted by Pacific islanders. The South Korean government hoped the event would “introduce the culture of Pacific Island countries” to the Korean people. By May 2023, the R.O.K. had established diplomatic relations with all 14 PICs. Although the South Korean National Assembly impeached Yoon in December 2024, his effect on the country’s foreign policy lingers.

Seoul pledged in 2023 to double its investment in the Pacific islands by 2027. South Korea’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocated USD 33 million of its total funds to the Pacific Islands in 2024, up USD 12 million from 2023. Accompanying the Tina River Hydropower Development Project are similar R.O.K. initiatives across the region supplying energy to PICs. In Fiji, the R.O.K. is behind the installation of a 2880-panel, 1.55MW solar PV project expected to power 500 families with Korean technology on the island of Taveuni. The Marshall Islands will receive 50kW Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) generators—installations that will simultaneously contribute to ocean de-acidification—as well as a shipment of air conditioners and heaters that will cool and heat about 5000m2 areas, all from South Korea.

South Korea’s engagement in the Pacific islands is increasing against a backdrop of intensifying strategic competition between the United States and China over the allegiance of PICs. As the most aid-reliant region in the world, the Pacific islands depend on external support to survive. Both China and the United States, among other powers, have exploited PIC dependency on all kinds of aid to achieve their geopolitical aims for decades.

The Solomon Islands in particular has found itself central to competition between China and the United States for influence in the region, particularly following the April 2022 leak of its secret security agreement with China. While the Solomon Islands has clarified that accepting Korean aid does not mean it intends to align itself with Korean interests whatsoever—nor against China’s—it will continue to welcome the R.O.K.’s investment.

Now that South Korea has joined the fray, it is too soon to say whether it simply seeks to flex its muscles as a “global pivotal state” according to former President Yoon’s vision, or if a Korean dam in the Solomon Islands is only the tip of the iceberg of a geopolitical pivot in Seoul.