In the past decade, the threat of North Korea’s WMD (weapons of mass destruction) has challenged South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The Korean peninsula has long been a focal point for tension and rivalry among the various nations concerned about the implications for their own security of developments in Korea. North Korea’s admission of continued nuclear weapons development further heightened tensions in the Northeast Asia region. South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. demanded that North Korea guarantee that it would not produce weapons-grade plutonium from the old reactors. The growing economic vulnerability of North Korea, particularly since the demise the USSR in late 1991, has made the situation in Northeast Asia even more volatile. In an effort to defuse this situation, Six-Party Talks began in Beijing in August 2003, with the U.S., Japan, South Korea, China, Russia, and North Korea participating. In order to evaluate the chance for success in these talks, we need to take into account how the six participants each identify their national interest. We should remember that what North Korea wants most is survival. What South Korea wants is peace. China wants North Korea to remain a buffer between China and the U.S. Russia, too, wants North Korea to survive as an independent state. Japan wants North Korea’s nuclear threat eliminated. And the U.S. also wants North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Canada watches and hopes that these multilateral talks will lead to a solution that serves the interests of the Korean people, North and South.
목차
Abstract BACKGROUND THE ONGOING CRISIS NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE SIX PARTIES THE SIX-PARTY TALKS OUTLOOK
키워드
North KoreaSouth Koreanuclear weaponsSix-party talksnational interestmultilateralism
한국연구원은 1970년 5월 한국 민속의 각 분야에 걸친 자료의 수집과 학술적 연구를 목적으로 '한국민속연구소'로 출발하였다. 그 후 1973년 5월 연구 분야를 확대하며 민속뿐만 아니라 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 위해 '한국학연구소'로 개편하였고, 다시 1989년 3월 한국의 국제적 위상의 부상과 함께 한국학 연구의 중요성이 높아짐에 따라 '한국학연구원'으로 확대, 개편하였다. 한국학연구원은 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 통해 지역과 민족문화 발전에 기여하며 한국학의 세계화를 위해서 학술활동을 강화하고 나아가 내·외국인에 대한 한국문화 교육을 담당하고자 한다.