Book Description

For the first time since the conclusion of the Korean Civil War--which branched out to include the United States as a key player in a solution based on partition--the issue of Korean reunification is on the diplomatic, political, and economic agenda. To be sure, the very issue of which elements come first in such a move are themselves part of the strategies and tactics of both sides of the Korean geographical divide. In this volume, leading experts come together to discuss this issue in a careful and reasoned manner. With the reunification of Germany now underway, a great deal of attention is being paid to the Korean efforts in the same direction. While the disintegration of world communism is a necessary condition for reunification, the consensus is that such a development is not a sufficient condition. Hy-Sang Lee and Kihwan Kim examine those structural and tactical factors that inhibit economic cooperation, despite past windows of opportunities in such a consensual direction. Kwang Soo Choi, Kyongsoo Lho, and Yong-Sup Han look at the security concerns of both North and South Korea. While each displays a different emphasis and argues for a different timetable, they all point to the same factors at work moving toward reunification. The essays on political issues by Kong Dan Oh and Steven Mosher are unique in their emphasis on how political communication and scholarly exchanges serve as strategies of rapprochement and democratization. The concern of Korea in the 1990s is not simply to argue the case for or against reunification of Korea, but the need to move forward in such a way as to safeguard a democratic future for the South and open up the tragically closed and stagnant society created in the North. In this regard, the contributors examine a variety of foreign as well as domestic policy concerns that need to be cleared away as a prelude to reunification. This is a serious effort, well worth the attention of Asian area experts, international policy researchers, and students of political systems and economic structures alike.