The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that influenced the pursuitofvarious externalsecurity strategies by analyzing the cases thatPark Junghee administration implemented in Asia-pacific region in order to enhance its security capability...
The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that influenced the pursuitofvarious externalsecurity strategies by analyzing the cases thatPark Junghee administration implemented in Asia-pacific region in order to enhance its security capability while maintaining a strong alliance with the United States during the Cold war era. The fundamentalstarting pointofthis research was a thoughton the
necessity ofnationalsecurity framework in the mid to long-term
contextin accordance with the change ofsecurity situation in the regional structure including the rise of China.
To this end, this study established two hypotheses based on Neoclassical realism. First hypothesis is a sfollows: "as the Republic of Korea(ROK)'s decision-makers demonstrate higher level of strategic leadership capability, the possibility of implementation and the outcome of external security strategy in the Asia-pacific region increases." Second hypothesis is a sfollows: "while the ROK pursues complimentary measures of the alliance in order to further its security, the possibility of implementation of complimentary measures that the ROK formulated will increase proportionally to the U.S.' positive perception toward the ROK's complimentary measures of alliance."
Based on the above mentioned hypotheses,this study analyzed three cases: the foundation of Asia-Pacific Council, Vietnam Conference, and formulation of Asia-pacific Treaty Organization. The summary of research results are as follow:
First, the factors that influence the formulation and implementation of the ROK's external security strategy are the strategic leadership of the ROK's decision-makers,and the U.S.' perception on thecomplementary measures of the ROK-U.S. alliance that the ROK pursues.
The U.S.' perception on the ROK's externalsecurity strategy is based on its own regional hegemonic strategy. It was confirmed that the internationalsystem and regionalhegemonic system should be considered as leading variables that influence the U.S.' regional hegemonicstrategy.
Second, the analysis on the Park Junghee administration's implementation of external security strategies in the Asia-pacific region revealed that even though ROK is a weak state, it can afford to initiate and pursue its own external security strategy in the Asia pacific region.
Third, the ROK, as a weak state, is heavily relying on the ROK-U.S. alliance for its security while ROK seeks its complementary measures of the alliance in order to secure its national security. The study on the three cases of the Park Junghee administration's implementation of external security strategies in the Asia-pacific region demonstrate that the possibility of effective implementation ofcomplementary measures ofthe alliance increases when the two factors of the ROK decision-makers' strategic leadership and the U.S.' perception on the ROK's complementary measures of the allianceare appropriately composed.
The academic significance drawn from the results of the study re as follows. First, the study empirically shows that a weak state can initiate various complementary measures for enhancing its national security in the anarchic international system. This finding does not coincide with neorealists' argument that weak states can hardly exercise their own security initiatives in the anarchic international system.
Second, the study also found the fact that even within the limited framework of the international system, implementation and results of a weak state's external security strategy varies based on the factors of the unit level of the international system. This finding shows that the argument of neoclassical realism, which values the state level factors for better explanation of the state's external security strategy, can be applied to the ROK cases.
Third, this study focused on comprehensive analysis of the complementary strategy ofthe ROK-U.S.alliance thatused to be neglected in the realm of security studies. Therefore, it is timely and meaningful in terms of preparing for the change of the regional hegemonic system including the rise of China. Because this type of study can exercise caution of the tendency of insensitively focusing on the ROK-U.S. alliance in studying and designing of our national security.