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101. The Roh Moo Hyun Government's Policy toward North Korea

Author:
Choong Nam Kim
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Despite the emergence of a second North Korea nuclear crisis, President Roh Moo Hyun has expanded the sunshine policy that he inherited. As a result, the Roh government has experienced difficulties in managing both its North Korea policy and the U.S.-ROK alliance. The engagement policy is based on the assumption that inter-Korean cooperation will reduce tension on the Korean peninsula and induce change in the North. The policy appears to be reasonable for the long term, but not for the short term, especially for the resolution of immediate and complex issues such as the North Korea nuclear problem.
Political Geography:
United States and North Korea

102. The Gaeseong Industrial Park and the Future of Inter-Korean Relations

Author:
Youn-Suk Kim
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Battered by a nearly bankrupted economy and continuous food shortages, North Korea has been cautiously opening its doors to strike economic deals with South Korea in recent years. The closed nature of the North's economy has resulted in low industrial productivity and efficiency, technological backwardness, and, in the end, economic stagnation. The North is also concerned that with the disparity in economic levels, unification with the South might result in the virtual absorption of the North into the South. Thus, the South's policy in this regard has been to reassure the North that unity through absorption is neither feasible nor desirable under the current state of military confrontation.
Political Geography:
South Korea and North Korea

103. The North Korean Economy at a Crossroads: Problems and Prospects

Author:
Dick K. Nanto
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
North Korea stands at a crossroads now that is every bit as momentous as its decision to invade South Korea in 1950. What Kim Jong-il does over the short- and medium-term will put his country either on a path leading to reconciliation with the world and economic and military security or a path leading to a nuclear standoff or military hostilities. As this drama plays out on the world stage, the economy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea plays a critical role. Economic forces play a twopronged role. Starvation and dismal economic conditions exert pressures on Pyongyang from inside the country, while the prospect of economic assistance and normalized trade and investment relations with other nations provide a powerful incentive for the North Korean leaders to undertake actions that otherwise would be difficult. North Korean is in transition. It can turn back state socialism, state control, and starvation, or it can take the road of China and the states of the Former Soviet Union and join the rest of the world.
Political Geography:
South Korea, North Korea, and Korea

104. The ROK-US Alliance During the Bush and Roh Administrations: Differing Perspectives and Their Implications for a Changing Strategic Environment

Author:
Bruce E. Bechtol Jr. Ph.D.
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
The ROK-US Alliance has been in a state of flux almost since the beginning of the Roh Moo-hyun administration in early 2003. As of the writing of this article, many issues remain up in the air, including the future role of USFK on the Korean Peninsula, the cost of maintaining troops and equipment on the Peninsula (and who will pay for them), the transformation of USFK as a military force, and the move south of both US Army units close to the DMZ and Headquarters USFK in Seoul.
Political Geography:
United States, Korea, and Seoul

105. China and the Six-Party Talks: The New Turn to Mediation Diplomacy

Author:
Samuel S. Kim
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
During more than a half century of its checkered international life, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has not been known for self-initiated mediation diplomacy in the world's trouble spots. Thus, China's uncharacteristically proactive mediation efforts in the second US-DPRK nuclear standoff, both reflects and affects significant changes in its foreign-policy thinking and behavior. Beijing's seemingly abrupt policy shift provides a timely case study for examining its changing role in the shaping of a new international order in East Asia in general and on the Korean peninsula in particular.
Political Geography:
China and Beijing

106. Russia's Interests and Objectives on the Korean Peninsula

Author:
Peggy Falkenheim Meyer
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
The North Korean nuclear crisis that began in October 2002 has presented a challenge for Russia. The crisis began when a North Korean official allegedly acknowledged that his country had been pursuing a secret uranium enrichment program. Since then, Pyongyang has withdrawn from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, and restarted plutonium reactors whose operations were frozen under a 1994 agreement with the United States. North Korea has claimed that it has processed spent nuclear fuel rods and that it possesses nuclear weapons.
Political Geography:
Russia, North Korea, and Korea

107. U.S.-North Korean Relations: From the Agreed Framework to the Six-party Talks

Author:
Larry Niksch
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
U.S.-North Korean relations since the end of the Cold War have been dominated by the issue of North Korea's nuclear program, specifically by evidence and a U.S. assessment that North Korea has used its nuclear program to attempt to produce nuclear weapons. From the time of a major policy speech in Seoul by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in early 1991 to the present, successive U.S. administrations have had a priority policy objective of eliminating the nuclear program. The objective expanded after 1998 to include North Korean missiles and chemical and biological weapons. The United States has attempted three different diplomatic initiatives with this aim: the negotiations that led to the signing of the U.S.-North Korean Agreed Framework in October 1994; the Perry initiative of 1999-2000; and the six-party talks of 2003-2004. The United States, with South Korea, also initiated four-party talks with North Korea, including China, over a Korean peace treaty in the 1997-1999 period.
Political Geography:
United States, South Korea, North Korea, and Seoul

108. Dealing with Pyongyang In Search of a More Effective Strategy

Author:
C. Kenneth Quinones
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Double failure does not yield success. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and US President George Bush claim they want a “peaceful diplomatic solution” to the Korean Peninsula's nuclear woes, but their strategies have failed to achieve their avowed goals. More effective strategies are urgently needed. But first we need to figure out what is really impeding progress on both sides.
Political Geography:
United States, North Korea, and Korea

109. Advancing Democracy for South Korea: Beyond Electoral Politics and Presidential Impeachment

Author:
Young Whan Kihl
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
South Korea is a trailblazer on the path toward liberal democracy in Asia. Following the 1987 democratic "opening" and transition, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has moved on toward democratic consolidation with a series of drastic reform measures. It moved on to "deepening" democracy and ambitious institution building. As a result, Korea is today recognized internationally as both a thriving democracy and a vibrant capitalist economy. Freedom House Country Ratings continue to place South Korea in the ranking of a liberal democracy, with an average score of 2.0. The ratings for 2005 gave South Korea an average of 1.5 for the two categories of "political rights" and "civil liberties" on a "freedom scale" of 1 to 7, where 1 represents the highest degree of freedom and 7 the lowest. In 2004, South Korea emerged as the 10th largest economy in the world, with a GDP of US$667.4 billion and a per capita GNP of US$16,900.
Political Geography:
Asia, South Korea, and Korea

110. Protest and Democratic Consolidation: A Korean Perspective

Author:
José Alemán
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Scenes of workers or other citizens clashing with riot police are a common occurrence in South Korea. While this may come as no surprise to most adult Koreans, such collective mobilization challenges established theories of democratization and democratic consolidation that strongly associate the latter with moderation of social protests.
Political Geography:
South Korea and Korea