The Sixty Years of the Korea-U.S. Security Alliance: Past, Present, and Future
Author: Bruce Bennett
The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States have maintained a strong security alliance for 60 years. Throughout that period, North Korea has posed continuing threats that have evolved significantly in recent years. Because North Korea is a failing state, the ROK and the United States must seek to deter, and, if necessary, defeat a range of North Korean challenges, from provocations to major war. They must also be prepared to deal with a North Korean government collapse. All of these challenges potentially involve a ROK/US offensive into North Korea to unify Korea, with significantly different force requirements than the historical defense of Seoul.
(Pages 1 – 43)
U.S. and Japan: New Policies for the New Korean Situations
Author: Richard Weitz
The new national security leaders in Japan, the United States, China and the two Koreas have assumed office at a precarious time. Despite the recent relaxation of tensions, conditions are ripe for further conflict in Northeast Asia. The new DPRK leadership is as determined as its predecessor to possess nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles while resisting unification or reconciliation with South Korea and its allies. The new government in Tokyo is also augmenting its military capabilities. Meanwhile, despite Chinese efforts to restart the Six-Party Talks, the Obama administration has refused to engage with the DPRK until it demonstrates a willingness to end its nuclear weapons program and improving intra-Korean ties.
(Pages 44 – 62)
North Korea’s Strategic Goals and Policy towards the United States and South Korea
Author: Sue Mi Terry
Pyongyang under the Kim dynasty has pursued three broad and consistent strategic goals: (1) The pursuit of nuclear weapons program in order to gain international acceptance of the North as a bona fide nuclear weapons state; (2) securing a peace treaty in an effort to remove U.S. forces from the Korean Peninsula; and, (3) reunification with South Korea on its own terms—the ultimate if increasingly unrealistic objective. To achieve these goals, the North has followed a policy of brinksmanship with the U.S. and South Korea: provoke when Washington or Seoul seem preoccupied, up the ante in the face of international condemnation, and pivot back to a peace offensive, which usually ends with some form of dialogue and negotiation, culminating, finally, in concessions for the North.
(Pages 63 – 92)
The North Korean Military Under Kim Jong-un Evolved or Still Following a Kim Jong-il Script?
Author: Bruce E. Bechtol Jr.
This paper will address many issues and challenges that have occurred in the North Korean military since Kim Jong-un has taken over as the leader in North Korea. There have been numerous issues relating to strife in the North Korean military since 2011, and some have opined that this is because of Kim Jong-un’s lack of control over this key institution within North Korea. The evidence confirms that there remain many challenges to Kim Jong-un gaining total control – and loyalty over the military. Largely to make up for this weakness, we have seen numerous purges and movement of officials within the North Korean leadership structure during the early stages of the Kim Jong-un regime. Kim Jong-un showed the world that he would use his military to conduct the same types of saber rattling that his father engaged in during the spring of 2013.
(Pages 93 – 115)
Some New ‘Wicked Problems’ of the Asia-Pacific Regional Maritime Security: Can Solutions be Found?
Author: Captain (Ret.) Sukjoon Yoon
Regional maritime security has clearly wanted improved structures and mechanisms since early 2010. In 2011 Dr. Sam Bateman published an article, “Solving the ‘Wicked Problems’ of Maritime Security: Are Regional Forums up to the Task?” identifying a number of intractable problems. Recently, Bateman’s list has been overshadowed by a variety of new ‘wicked problems’ and all parties continue to dig the hole deeper. These new issues faced by the East Asian nations include: the impact of domestic politics upon maritime security, the difficulty of striking a balance between the US and China, the struggle for self-reliant defense through rearming, the dearth of alternative models for maritime cooperation, the blurring of operational roles between navies and coastguards, and the reluctance to turn to legal mechanisms of dispute resolution. In Bateman’s original exposition, the ‘wicked problems’ were directly applicable to current maritime security, but denoted some negative outlook.
(Pages 116 – 152)
Prospects of the inter-Korean Economic Cooperation And North Korean External Trade
Author: Eui-Gak Hwang
This article will describe the recent status of the North Korean economy and its external trade as well as the derailed North-South economic interaction. Despite several attempts by North Korea to introduce change involving the term ‘economic reform’, North Korea has not yet advanced during the last thirty years. Its economic deadlocks are owed, first, to its very principles in which economic reform must be permissible only within the set of basic values held by the monoparty about “juche (self-reliant)” socialism. In other words, even partial decentralization is itself being centrally directed and eyed with military-first targets. Second, the North Korean leadership and its supporting elites, the final arbiters deciding how far it is permissible to open its system, are apprehensive that a change in its system would actually lead to the collapse of their established power structure.
(Pages 153 – 179)
The Contextual Model of Electoral Turnout in Emergent Democracies-the Case of the 2004 Korean Legislative Election
Author: WooJin Kang
What sources of information do individuals turn to in making the decision to participate in elections? Do the contextual factors matter in this decision? This study attempts to answer these important but understudied questions in electoral politics in emergent democracies. Based on the 2004 Korean legislative election, this study elucidates the relevance of the contextual model: in particular, the role of political discussions with others in explaining citizens’ decisions to vote. The main findings of this study have implications for the future study of comparative political behavior.
(Pages 180 – 202)
