Korea World Affairs

These essays support the argument that strong and effective presidential leadership is the most important prerequisite for South Korea to sustain and project its influence abroad. That leadership should be attentive to the need for public consensus and should operate within established legislative mechanisms that ensure public accountability. The underlying structures sustaining South Korea’s foreign policy formation are generally sound; the bigger challenge is to manage domestic politics in ways that promote public confidence about the direction and accountability of presidential leadership in foreign policy.

This edited volume brings together a set of essays exploring the global dimensions of Korea’s recent history and politics by a group of the most talented young scholars. Essays in the volume seek to answer two interrelated questions: How have international developments impacted Korea? And how has Korea in turn influenced world events and trends? The volume demonstrates that the most important issues in Korea’s post World War II history—division, war, economic development, and inter-Korean rivalry—cannot be understood without reference to the country’s global interactions. Essays in the volume cover a range of topics including: U.S.-South Korean relations, North Korean foreign policy, immigration, and democratization. The essays included in the volume push the boundaries of several different subfields. Historical essays break new ground by introducing new archival materials and revealing important details about the past diplomacy of the two Korea’s. Others consider aspects of American influence on Korea that have previously been ignored such as the U.S. impact on urban development and food consumption. Essays on contemporary Korean politics and society make sense of most recent developments in North and South Korea while presenting intriguing new interpretive frameworks. By bringing new voices in Korean Studies to the forefront, this volume changes how we understand and reconceptualize Korea’s role in the world.

Against the backdrop of China’s mounting influence and North Korea’s growing nuclear capability and expanding missile arsenal, South Korea faces a set of strategic choices that will shape its economic prospects and national security. In South Korea at the Crossroads, Scott A. Snyder examines the trajectory of fifty years of South Korean foreign policy and offers predictions—and a prescription—for the future. Pairing a historical perspective with a shrewd understanding of today’s political landscape, Snyder contends that South Korea’s best strategy remains investing in a robust alliance with the United States. Snyder begins with South Korea’s effort in the 1960s to offset the risk of abandonment by the United States during the Vietnam War and the subsequent crisis in the alliance during the 1970s. A series of shifts in South Korean foreign relations followed: the “Nordpolitik” engagement with the Soviet Union and China at the end of the Cold War; Kim Dae Jung’s “Sunshine Policy,” designed to bring North Korea into the international community; “trustpolitik,” which sought to foster diplomacy with North Korea and Japan; and changes in South Korea’s relationship with the United States. Despite its rise as a leader in international financial, development, and climate-change forums, South Korea will likely still require the commitment of the United States to guarantee its security. Although China is a tempting option, Snyder argues that only the United States is both credible and capable in this role. South Korea remains vulnerable relative to other regional powers in northeast Asia despite its rising profile as a middle power, and it must balance the contradiction of desirable autonomy and necessary alliance.

This book brings Korea's finest foreign policy minds together in contemplating the risks and rewards of finally ending the 70 year stalemate between North and South Korea through reunification. While North Korea is in conflict with the United States over denuclearization and regime security, the South Korean government is focusing on economic development preparing for the day when the two Koreas are unified. This book will help scholars, activists and policy-makers from all over the world systematically understand the current diplomatic and security issues in the Korean peninsula.

This book analyses North Korea’s foreign policy towards the United States during the Kim Jong Il era. Throughout these years, North Korea sought but failed to normalise diplomatic relations with the United States. Making use of theories of bargaining and learning in International Relations, the book explains how the inability of the Kim Jong Il government to correctly understand domestic politics in Washington and developments in East Asian international relations contributed to this failure. As a result, Pyongyang accelerated development of nuclear weapons programme with the aim of strengthening its negotiating position with the US. However, towards the end of the Kim Jong Il government it became unclear whether North Korea is willing to reverse its nuclear programme in exchange for normal diplomatic relations with the United States. The book includes material from over 60 interviews with American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian policy-makers and experts who have dealt with North Korea. It also analyses in detail Pyongyang’s official media articles published during the Kim Jong Il era. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of US Foreign Policy, Korean Politics and International Relations alike.