Future dynamics in Sino-Korea relations

This article argues that the basic interests of the major actors involved in the Korean problem converge on the cross-recognition and “two Koreas” formula. Seoul’s diplomatic normalization with Moscow, and North Korea’s ongoing negotiations with Tokyo, testify to this trend. Because of its sensitivity to North Korea’s dilemma and carefully measured policy, China has succeeded in sustaining North Korea’s trust while improving its ties with South Korea. Shaken by the changes in the international system and threatened by the rapidly growing economic capability of the South, North Korea’s overall foreign policy objective is shifting from unifocation to accepting the existing status quo, a movement toward a direction that China has been advising. A mostly likely breakthrough to the stalemate in Korea will come from the Pyongyang-Tokyo bilateral relations. Ironically, when the South feels more confident than ever before about the possibility of unification under its terms, the rest of world is moving toward the cross recognition it has advocated. Whether the two Koreas with over-lapping diplomatic relations with all four major powers surrounding the peninsula will be able to achieve the unification that all Korean people desire will largely depend on how the regimes manage inter-Korean relations in coming years.     

朴槿惠时代的韩国东北亚政策分析

朴槿惠作为韩国历史上首位女总统杂的外交棋局。在韩国的外交重心东北亚地区，韩系、韩朝关系均面临两难选择。面对这样的态势，，接手的是一副异常错综复美关系、韩日关系、韩中关朴槿惠如何“破局”问题的关键。本文回顾了韩国在东北亚地区的基本外交战略。分析了韩北亚地区面临的外交困境，在此基础上根据朴槿惠在各种场合的言论，韩国在未来五年的外交政策走向。就成为国在东分析了     

习近平主席访韩成果、意义、局限及韩中关系中的战略课题——为促进韩中外交可持续发展的几点建议

中国国家主席习近平主席2014年7月3日对韩国进行国事访问,并与韩国总统朴槿惠举行了会谈,确认了韩中两国为"成熟的战略合作伙伴"关系。通过习主席访问韩国,韩中双方在政治、军事、经济、社会、文化领域的交流与合作等方面都取得了很大成果,尤其双方为共同应对日本歪曲历史问题而进行合作达成了协议,具有重要的意义。但是,为了韩中关系更长远的发展,也得考虑朝鲜、美国、日本等国家的因素。为了韩中两国关系的持久发展,重要的是为朝鲜半岛构建和平与统一的新的蓝图。两国共同领导才是推动南北关系改善、朝鲜半岛统一和东亚地区和平与稳定的核心轴。为了实现这个目标,应该尽快推进两国政府、两国学者之间的战略合作渠道和有创意性的战略性项目;还必须进行关于韩中历史问题的交流和对话,对一些历史问题进行共同研究。     

North Korea – Challenge for the Major Powers

Abstract

Since North Korea is one of the world's most enigmatic societies, it is difficult to understand precisely the factors determining its policies. The prevailing power structure, the primary political considerations, and the stability of the current order are each subject to question. Meanwhile, a history of relations between the United States and North Korea reveals repeated movements forward followed by renewed breakdowns. In general terms, China is a crucial actor as the North's chief economic and strategic supporter, with South Korea also vitally important. Russia currently plays a limited role, and relations between Japan and North Korea are hostile. At the close of 2006, negotiations are once again underway but with no agreements reached. Thus, it is difficult to be optimistic about an early resolution of the key issues despite some favorable signs.     

Security,Nationalism and Popular Culture: Screening South Korea’s Uneasy Identity in the Early 2000s

By examining the cultural representations of the South Korean notion of the Self/Other in relation to its major traditional enemy — North Korea — this article aims to capture a picture of South Korea’s discursive economy of the North, and to problematise the South Korean identities implicated in that economy in the early 2000s. To achieve these aims, this article focuses on representations of a successful popular South Korean film which was released in 2000, just a few months after the first inter-Korean summit: Joint Security Area JSA. By analytically reading JSA, it is revealed that, in South Korea, the traditional discursive practices based on the Cold War thinking have been eroded. For the South, the North is part of the Self (Korean-ness; love for the North as the same nation) and, at the same time, is an Other (South Korean-ness; contempt for the North as an inferior state). Related to this, South Korea appears to be the uneasy Self without a firm Other in between Korean-ness and South Korean-ness.     

Trends in North Korean foreign policy

North Korea’s foreign policy track record in the post-cold war era is mixed. Most notable setbacks are the diplomatic normalization between the Soviet Union (now Russia) and South Korea; the reversal of its UN policy that paved the way for the simultaneous admission of the two Korean states to the world organization; and the diplomatic normalization between China and South Korea. On the credit side of Pyongyang’s diplomatic ledger are changes in its relations with Tokyo and Washington. While tangible results have yet to materialize, particularly in North Korea-Japan relations, the groundwork has nonetheless been laid for significant improvement. North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons development program has played a major role in the unfolding of its relations with the United States. Conceptually, North Korean foreign policy can be explained in terms of its quest for three interrelated goals: security, legitimacy, and development. In the post-cold war era security appears to have emerged as the most important of the three goals. North Korea is at a crossroads. The choices it makes in foreign policy will determine not only the direction of its domestic policy but, ultimately, the survival of the regime itself. The external players in Seoul, Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, and Vienna (the IAEA) have varying degrees of leverage over Pyongyang’s policy as well.     

金大中"阳光政策"的两难处境与当前的朝鲜半岛形势

由于"9.11"事件的发生,美国的军事外交战略发生了的重大变化,而布什在今年1月29日发表的"国情咨文"中又公开点名朝鲜,伊拉克,伊朗为"邪恶轴心",从此朝鲜半岛的形势开始震荡起来.韩国政府和美国布什政府在朝鲜半岛问题上产生了裂痕.本文分析了金大中"阳光政策"遇到的困难和朝鲜半岛形势的症结所在以及可预见的前景.     

特朗普时期美朝关系变化轨迹与未来走向

特朗普就任美国总统以来,美朝关系经历了对抗与危机时期、缓和与蜜月时期以及僵持时期三个阶段。在对抗与危机时期,美国对朝采取经济制裁、军事演习等极限施压举措;在缓和与蜜月时期,美国对朝采取首脑峰会、工作磋商的接触政策;在僵持时期,美国对朝"谈压并举"。新冠肺炎疫情也没有给美朝关系改善提供机会之窗。而贯穿始终的是美国对朝制裁毫不放松。特朗普本人及其幕僚对奥巴马政府的对朝政策十分不满,积极应对突飞猛进的朝鲜核导技术,掌握在东北亚地缘战略竞争中的主导权。这成为特朗普政府对朝政策的动因。特朗普政府对朝政策推动了无核化谈判的展开和朝鲜半岛局势的缓和,但美朝无核化谈判依然陷入梗阻。     

The Rescaling of the Chinese State and Sino-North Korean Relations: Beyond State-Centrism

While Beijing has repeatedly signed up to multilateral sanctions against North Korea, it is widely regarded as having failed to enforce them. Indeed, China’s deepening economic engagement with the country has led observers to debate the causes of this seemingly duplicitous approach. Constructivist and realist approaches have relied on state-centric frameworks that serve to reduce Sino-North Korean relations to the high politics of Beijing-Pyongyang diplomacy in the context of broader geopolitical dynamics. This article argues that such approaches pay insufficient attention to the profound rescaling of the Chinese state in recent years and the implications this process has for bilateral relations. This article sheds light on how Sino-North Korean relations are being driven by actors at multiple scales and by a multitude of objectives as a result of decentralisation and marketisation alongside increasing geographical unevenness within China and new challenges to continued capital accumulation. North Korea has come to play an increasingly important role in efforts to facilitate economic recovery in the northeastern border regions through serving as spatial fix for Chinese manufacturing capital. These new cross-border flows of capital and labour suggest an emerging pattern of Sino-North Korean relations that is by no means static but in considerable flux.     

NORTH KOREA’S PERSPECTIVES IN ITS ARGUMENT FOR A PEACE TREATY

In recent years, North Korea’s military provocations have been making the headlines. Beyond its harsh actions and remarks, North Korea persistently mentions ‘peace’ through a demand for a ‘peace treaty’. This may sound paradoxical. However, the origin of the North Korean argument for a peace treaty dates back to the Korean War (1950–53). Since then, North Korea has continued to raise the issue of a peace treaty in a consistent manner and the arguments have displayed similar logic and terminology throughout. It is this consistency and similarity that this article examines: through reviewing North Korea’s original texts, this article attempts to undercover North Korea's perspectives reflected in its argument for a peace treaty.     

Swedish Diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific Region

The year 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Sweden. It is believed that the first contact between Sweden and Japan came during the Edo Period and was mediated by the Netherlands. The Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Sweden, signed in 1868, also came into being thanks to the good offices of the Dutch. This treaty, like many others into which Japan entered at that time, was an “unequal treaty.” As Japan increased its presence in East Asia, this unequal treaty with Sweden was revised in 1911. The world was changing. Sweden and Japan shared a common interest in opposing Russia’s ambitions. Russia in particular was a common threat to the diplomatic posture and security of both Japan and Sweden. These two nations, positioned like bookends on either side of Russia, could be important strategic partners for one another and allies in their relationships with Russia. Considering the current issue of North Korea, Sweden also has the potential to act as a mediator because it maintains diplomatic relations with North Korea. There is reason to believe that the diplomatic relationship between Japan and Sweden will develop further.     

An analysis of North Korea’s economic development with special reference to agriculture

The article examines North Korea’s record of economic development with special reference to agriculture. There has been some success in grain production using a centrally directed economy and the Juche method and Chungsan-ri spirit of farming. However, too much emphasis on grain production has resulted in shortages of other agricultural products, such as livestock and livestock products. A fundamental problem in North Korea is that the economy as a whole is supply-constrained, a common failing of planned economies.     

Cyberwarfare in the Korean Peninsula: Asymmetries and Strategic Responses

In this paper, we argue that the two Koreas’ intentions and actions on the cyber front point toward the possibility that they have engaged in cyber warfare against each other. From South Korea’s standpoint, a key concern has been North Korea’s advanced cyber warfare capabilities and alleged involvement of its substantial workforce in the Internet’s dark side activities. These issues need to be looked at the backdrop of the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. This paper draws principally upon theories and concepts from military strategy and warfare to examine the contexts, mechanisms, and processes associated with the cyber warfare in the Korean peninsula. We also compare the two Koreas in terms of various forms of asymmetries in cyber warfare and cyber attacks. Also highlighted in the paper are South Korea’s recent initiatives and actions to enhance cyber-offense and cyber-defense capabilities.     

A sinologist’s observations on North Korea

This report provides reflections on a one-week visit to North Korea in April 1989 by a China scholar who lived in Maoist China. It draws on meetings with American and Chinese specialists on Korea, and with North Korea scholars and Party officials. It compares Kim’s North Korea with Mao’s China in terms of agriculture, policy towards education and intellectuals, and the Cult of Personality; it discusses apparent tentative stpes in the North towards openness and reform, but recognizes the dilemma of understanding complicated forces for the against reform in such a short visit. Finally, the report outlines discussions with North Korea international relations specialists and a member of the Secretariat of the Korean Worker’s Party which welcomed the end of the cold war and improved Sino-U.S., U.S.-Soviet, and Sino-Soviet relations as favorable for peace in the region and Korean reunification. He is author ofAgrarian Radicalism in China, 1968–1981 (Harvard University Press, 1989).     

六方会谈重启的必然性及难点分析

自朝鲜退出六方会谈以来,朝鲜半岛局势日趋紧张。深入分析朝鲜半岛时局变化特征,找出半岛危机频发的根源,采取合理的应对措施极为重要。由于朝鲜半岛时局危机频发,作为多边对话机制的六方会谈的重要性越来越突出,其意义已经超出和平解决朝核问题本身,成为维护地区局势稳定的需要。鉴于六方会谈有关各国立场和实际努力,六方会谈重启只是时间问题,重新开启六方会谈也将有效推动朝韩、朝美关系改善。     

Pseudo Change: China’s Strategic Calculations and Policy Toward North Korea after Pyongyang’s 4th Nuclear Test

After North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January 2016, China’s response was stern enough for certain China analysts to posit that the Middle Kingdom’s approach to its Cold War ally was changing. In reality, however, China’s imports from North Korea, especially coal, a crucial mineral for the North’s income but banned by United Nations (UN) Resolution 2270, did not decrease. Politically, China also strived to maintain mutual relations with North Korea. Based on its strategic and other cost-benefit calculations, Beijing needs to maintain economic and political ties with Pyongyang and thus has no incentive to seriously observe the U.N. resolution. In this context, China is expected to virtually repeat the gestures it made in the past in dealing with the North. Under these circumstances, sanctioning North Korea through China is not considered a viable option in tackling the nuclear issue; rather, the USA and South Korea should change their policy approach toward this problem.     

KOTJEBI: NORTH KOREAN CHILDREN IN CHINA

The China/North Korea border has always been somewhat porous. Since the se-vere famines in the 1990s, the flow of migrants has tended to be towards China with a primarily illegal population of North Koreans seeking work, political freedom or simply essential supplies. Children from North Korea in China have a particularly precarious status. Either they are illegal immigrants themselves or they have mothers who are illegal immigrants. But, when interviewed, they did not repeat the stories of famine, endemic shortage and desperation which are so common in media reportage. Instead they spoke of a desire for a better life, with more opportunity, security and flexibility. It seems that the social, political and economic realities of the DPRK are changing rather faster than the dis-course which surrounds the country.     

韩中建交二十一年——论充实、拓展韩中关系与学术交流的重要性

韩中建交以来,双边关系分别经历了"发展阶段"(1992~1998年)、"构建阶段"(1998~2003年)、"提升阶段"(2003~2008年)等三个历史过程。现在,两国关系已经开始进入"强化阶段",即"充实、拓展两国关系内涵阶段"。中国外交部韩半岛事务副代表徐步对韩中建交20年给予了积极的评价。他指出:"在过去二十年间,两国加强了政治互信和战略沟通,韩国是第一个承认中国的完整市场经济地位的国家,是中国主要的贸易伙伴。两国间人员往来十分频繁,在处理国际和区域问题时始终坚持相互沟通与合作的原则。"建交21年来,两国关系取得了飞跃发展,但在诸多领域仍存在矛盾、摩擦。因此,本文在回顾两国关系发展过程中的一些摩擦,并为消除两国关系未来发展障碍提供两点建议。     

Studying North Korea through North Korean migrants: lessons from the field

This article examines the use of North Korean defectors’ accounts as a source of information for studying the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Information from defectors fills a vital knowledge gap and improves our understanding of North Korean politics, economics, and society. Witness accounts and interview data collected from people who were born in North Korea but have since left have been widely used by journalists, government agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and academics. There are, however, serious methodological issues in collecting, organizing, and interpreting information derived from defectors’ accounts. Selection and demographic biases, power relations between researchers and interviewees, monetary incentives, and language barriers are among those issues. We propose focus group discussions and participatory observation as complementary methods of data collection to mitigate the shortfalls of relying on individual interviews.     

Hedley Bull and International Society: Contemporary Reflections on the Korean Peninsula

The year 2010 witnessed an escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula through two military crises. The rise in tensions can be explained by neorealism as a shifting distribution of power in the region and a small state preserving its national security. The paper argues that neorealism is not sufficient to explain the patterns and routines of crisis escalation and crisis resumption on the Korean peninsula and the North East Asian region. By focusing on the causes of conflicts neorealism fails to identify the consequences of these inter-state tensions for the evolution of an anarchical society of states in the North East Asian region. The paper provides an alternative interpretation of recent inter-Korean crisis escalation and crisis resolution in the East Asian region through the work of Hedley Bull.