新 Detente 國際秩序와 한국의 東北亞 安定追求 : 한반도 平和體制를 중심으로 Focused on the Inter-Korean Peace System = New Detente International Order and the Pursuit of Stability in the Northeast Asia

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

There are periods of history when profound changes occur all of a sudden, and the acceleration of events is such that much of what experts write is obsolete before it gets into print. We are now in one of those periods, which obliges the Republic of Korea to probe carefully into the environmental changes of global international politics, particularly those in the foreign policy attitude of the Soviet Union, and to reassess the political situation on the Korean Peninsula and the regional settings of Northeast Asian sub-system as well.
Men, and states as well, have to live within the boundary of their environment, with which they continuously interact. When they fail to respond aptly to the environment and its changes, hardly they are expected to promote self-development and self-preservation. This is, what we call, the principle of natural selection and the interrelation of challenge vs. response in history. Thus, the on-going changes in international politics and its direction can be either a plus or a minus to the delicate inter-Korean relations.
The departure point of this study is concerned with the afore-mentioned historical characteristics of present period and its impacts upon the Korean peninsula. In the decade of 1990s, the international politics is clearly directed toward the rapprochement and cooperation, and a new international order appears to replace the widely known cold war structure of bipolarity.
Assuming that the Republic of Korea pursues her national interests in terms of the national security, the national unification, and the economic prosperity, the present study intends ⅰ) to scrutinize the sudden transition of American-Soviet relationship from a Cold War to a Detente; ⅱ) to analyze the implications in the main driving force-the Gorbachev's diplomacy of New Thinking, i.e., Novoye Mysblenie; ⅲ) to focus on the great transformation of Eastern Europe and the reshaping of European international politics; ⅳ) to evaluate three important factors in the changes of Northeast Asian politics; ⅴ) to evaluate the consequences of newly emerging international detente on the Korean peninsula; and ⅵ) to discuss the strategic settings and policy conditions of the peace system on the Korean peninsula in order to induce the opening of North Korea and to reduce the probability of inter-Korean conflict.
From the dichotomy of Cold War vs. Detente, the advent of second detente plainly characterizes the American-Soviet relations with the emergence of Mikhail S. Gorbachev in 1985. This great transition from a cold war to a detente seems so have been influenced by the three factors: the changes of leadership in the both countries, the evolution of their respective relations with China and Japan, and the urgencies of their economic hardship. Quite different from the detente of 1970s, the new form of rapprochement and cooperation appears to be initiated by the Soviet Union and the New Thinking diplomacy by Gorbachev.
The end of tense cold war system and the emergence of new international order are obviously witnessed by the total collapse of Eastern European communist countries and the recomposition of European politics. Needless to say, without the Eastern European communism, the existence of bipolarity looses its real intensity and extensity as well, and it can not help but change to a new system of different quality. The detente climates of arms reduction in the NATO-WTO negotiation and the German unification have emitted some great heats to the iciness of Cold War structure.
In the international scene of Northeast Asian, the Sino-Soviet rapprochement, the Korean-Soviet normalization of diplomatic relations, and the North Korea's approaches to Japan and the United States seem to encroach on the pillars of cold war arrangement. The international order of Northeast Asia, bipolarized into the rivalry of Southern vs. Northern triangular relationship, was resulted from the American-Soviet confrontation. However, in the midst of new detente climate, it is characterized as a process of realignment of bilateral relationship among the concerned parties in the structure of crossing cooperation. Thus, the following properties are more likely to characterize the Northeast Asian international politics: ⅰ) the reciprocal-multilateral relations, ⅱ) the peaceful co-existence replacing the inter-bloc hostility in a zero-sum strategy, ⅲ) the national economic interest in preference to the ideological affinity, ⅳ) the incrementing structural plurality, ⅴ) the stable regional transformation of international relations, ⅵ) the increasing economic interdependence.
The inter-Korean relations have been those of counter-production due to the Korean War, the confrontation of zero-sum pattern, and the military tension between the two. Therefore, it is quite desirable to turn the age of mutual loss into the age of mutual benefit, based on the peaceful co-existence and reciprocal cooperation-which become the essential parts of inter-Korean peace system.
In reality, there are plainly two governments-two societies on the Korean peninsula. At the same time, there is only one nation-one people in perception. Thus, both the realization of perception and the perceptualization of reality have to be carried out in the pursuit of peace system. In addition, there are two factors required in the inter-Korean peace system: one is the reciprocal opening and exchange between the two, the other is the elimination of war potentials on the Korean peninsula. Since the Korean peninsula is considered to be a security lynchpin in the strategic region of Northeast Asia where the four major powers are criss-crossing, the inter-Korean peace system in the post-Cold War structure will contribute to the tranquility of Northeast Asian region-and to the detente and cooperation in the global international politics.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 美·蘇關係의 急變과 新 데탕뜨
• Ⅱ. 新思考 외교의 實際와 本質
• Ⅲ. 東歐 사회주의의 崩壞와 유럽의 再編成
• Ⅳ. 東北아시아 國際情勢의 變動
• Ⅴ. 國際政治의 緊張緩和와 한반도
• Ⅵ. 맺는 말 : 한반도 平和體制