The Inter-Korean Relationship and Regional Security

Abstract

The June 2000 summit between North and South Korea has changed the security dynamics of the Korean peninsula. The reverberations of that change reach across Northeast Asia, and beyond. The summit has also engendered exaggerated hopes and fears. On one hand, the appearance of a thaw in North-South relations has inspired great optimism among those who see it as an irrefutable sign of North Korea’s intention to join the rest of the world as a constructive player. At the other extreme, it is seen as a masterstroke of deception by North Korea to reap economic gains and lower the guard of South Korea and its allies, principally the United States.

This chapter originally appeared in Survival vol. 42, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001), pp. 85–95 as “The Koreas’ New Century.”