China’s Recent Relations with North Korea—Look Beyond “Stability”
Author: Robert Sutter
American and South Korean officials and commentators were surprised and angered by China’s refusal to condemn North Korea’s recent military provocations, the sinking in March 2010 of the South Korean warship Cheonan, killing 46 South Korean sailors, and the artillery attack on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010, killing some South Korean soldiers and civilians. China’s deepening leadership ties and growing economic relations with and support for Pyongyang during a period of leadership transition in North Korea also appeared to enable North Korea’s egregious nuclear proliferation despite United Nations’ sanctions and international pressures in place since the North Korean nuclear tests of 2006 and 2009.
(Pages 1 – 16)
The Obama Administration’s Korea Policy and the Prospects for the Denuclearization of North Korea
Author: Larry A. Niksch
Since early 2009, North Korea’s several provocations and the hardening of its negotiation position on the nuclear issue have made Obama Administration officials pessimistic about the prospect of achieving progress toward the denuclearization of North Korea. The Administration has conditioned a return to six party nuclear talks (which North Korea broke off in April 2009) on North Korea taking prior steps to demonstrate a commitment to carry out past nuclear agreements of 2005 and 2007. However, North Korean military provocations against South Korea in 2010 and pressure from China have created sentiment in the State Department that negotiations should be resumed. If six party talks do resume, the United States and South Korea will need to test immediately North Korean intentions on two issues: verification inspections and nuclear proliferation (especially with Iran).
(Pages 17 – 42)
The Lee Government’s Policy toward the Denuclearization of North Korea and its Implications for South-North Korean Relations
Author: Hong Nack Kim
Inter-Korean relations have been virtually frozen since the inauguration of the Lee Myung-Bak government in February 2008, largely due to Pyongyang’s attempts to develop its nuclear weapons program in violation of numerous international agreements, including the denuclearization agreements signed by all parties to the six-party talks, including North Korea from 2005 to 2007. In addition to carrying out the second nuclear test in 2009 in violation of numerous international agreements, Pyongyang also secretly built a sophisticated ultra-modern uranium enrichment (HEU) facility in Yongbyon. Pyongyang’s defiant attitudes and policy on the nuclear issue are totally unacceptable to the Lee government which regards the denuclearization of North Korea as a prerequisite to the normalization of inter-Korean relations.
(Pages 43 – 74)
Nuclear Strategy, Political Succession and the Survival of the Kim Regime
Author: Young Whan Kihl
The article addresses an evolution of the North Korean nuclear strategy vis-à-vis the United States and its alliance partners of South Korea and Japan over the years. It also discusses the Kims’ dynastic political succession, via a father-son hereditary succession formula, for the vital role played by the nuclear strategy in the Kim regime’s survival and continuity. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, since his deteriorating health problem in August 2008, has chosen his third son, Kim Jong Un, as heir apparent and the next leader of North Korea. While the six party talks process, multilateral diplomacy for the DPRK’s nuclear dismantlement, has been stalled since 2008, Pyongyang has gone ahead to reactivate its nuclear reactor program at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.
(Pages 75 – 104)
The North Korean Economy After the 2009 Currency Reform: Problems and Prospects
Author: Dick K. Nanto
North Korea’s 2009 currency reform and ensuing actions may have been a turning point for the DPRK economy. The country now has little choice but to adopt a China-type strategy of reform and opening beginning with the development of the border area with China. However, North Korea’s provocations have caused a tightening of economic sanctions, including a U.S. prohibition on any product of North Korean origin, even if containing in another product from a third country. North Korea is highly reliant on trade with China and South Korea, although it does trade with numerous countries of the world.
(Pages 105 – 126)
The U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA): Looking Ahead–Prospects and Potential Challenges
Authors: William Cooper and Mark Manyin
At this writing, the Obama Administration appears to be close to introducing in Congress the draft implementing legislation for the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). When the President has submitted the draft legislation to both houses of Congress, he will start a process of expedited (“fast-track”) procedures for congressional consideration of the free trade agreement (FTA)—a process that must be completed for U.S. obligations under the KORUS FTA to enter into force. He will also be bringing to its final stages a process that began in February 2006 when U.S. and South Korean officials announced their intention to launch negotiations on the KORUS FTA the following June.
(Pages 127 – 150)
The Integration of North Korean Defectors in South Korea: Problems and Prospects
Author: Tara O
As the debate over North Korea’s collapse re-emerges, the mass exodus of North Koreans to China and South Korea poses a serious challenge. Already, many North Koreans have left North Korea for China and South Korea. In South Korea, over 20,000 defectors had arrived by 2010, most via China. They had gone to South Korea with high hopes, but soon were disillusioned by the realities of living there. By examining specific issues that the defectors face in adjusting to life in Korea, one can project the problems a unified Korea might encounter in integrating those who have lived under two completely different systems. The problem should be addressed as soon as possible, since it will take at least a generation to change people’s mindset. Lack of preparation to integrate Koreans from north into south could lead to enduring social problems that could impact the stability of Northeast Asia.
(Pages 151 – 170)
American Missionaries and the Korean Independence Movement in the Early 20th Century
Author: K. Kale Yu
This article investigates the intersection of militancy with Korean Christianity in the early twentieth century. Despite the dominant historiography of Korean Christianity as non-violent, pacifist, and apolitical, militancy was a surprising—and in many circles, an unwanted—outgrowth of the developing Protestant faith as it was disseminated by Protestant missionaries starting in 1884. The Protestant missionaries, caught between Japanese authorities, who legally permitted their work and Korean people to whom they served, insisted on maintaining an apolitical position, preferring to focus on spiritual and religious activities. However, a handful of American missionaries defied not only their home government and church mission board but also the Japanese government by openly challenging the legitimacy of the Japanese occupation of Korea.
(Pages 171 – 186)
