Security Conditions and Regional Competition in East Asia after the New Millennium: A South Korean Perspective

Year 2012, Volume: 17 Issue: 4, 105 - 128, 01.01.2012

Chong Jin Oh

Abstract

Even after the new millennium, the Korean peninsula still remains not only the heart of the Northeast Asian security discourse, but also as the centre of global security concerns. The absence of visionary leadership in East Asia and North Korea’s self-destructive survival strategy make it difficult to achieve peace on the Korean peninsula. Looking back at the last two decades of globalisation, the South Korean people have been embarrassed by the fact that although the country has been extending its reach as a meaningful global player economically, it has been struggling to contend with security issues such as the North Korean nuclear problem, revision of the South Korean-US alliance, Japanese militarisation, the rise of China, and so on. Thus, there continues to be many security concerns remaining for South Korea also known as the Republic of Korea, or ROK in the new millennium

Keywords

South Korean foreign policy, Inter-Korean Relations, Northeast Asia

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