This paper seeks to analyze major problems of the Lee Myung-Bak government’s North Korean policy and to suggest new policy direction to overcome the current deadlock between South and North.
This paper argues that the inter-Korean relation has bee...
This paper seeks to analyze major problems of the Lee Myung-Bak government’s North Korean policy and to suggest new policy direction to overcome the current deadlock between South and North.
This paper argues that the inter-Korean relation has been worsened due to two factors since the inauguration of the new government: first, the Lee government took a hardline position toward North Korea, emphasizing de-nuclearization of North before anything else; second, the Lee government rejected a valid strategy of the Kim Dae-Jung and Roh Moo-Hyun governments’ engagement policy and neglected remarkable achievements in reducing military instability and increasing economic cooperation between South and North. Because of these factors, two Koreas came to a situation of prisoners’ dilemma.
Therefore, we conclude that the Lee government must consider changing of its policy position seriously in order to get out of this negative situation. If two Koreas continue to stick to its own antagonistic belief and strategy, two will inflict more and more damages on one another. Especially, South and North Korea will lose enormous opportunities arising from economic cooperation, increasing instead North’s economic dependence upon China irrevocably. Thus, it is needed for the Lee government to take a bold initiative to engage and cooperate with North Korea. Only this approach will break current deadlock and build a positive relation between two Koreas toward peace, co-prosperity, and economic community of the Korean peninsula.