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Rethinking future paths on the Korean Peninsula

For a nation such as Korea whose history has been shaped by brutal and unrelenting geopolitics, the dominance of political realism, balance of power logic, and dispassionate definitions of its vital national interests would seem to be natural components of its security discourse. These traits remain imbedded in Korea’s overall strategic culture but one of the most curious aspects of the post-1998 public security debate in South Korea is the rise of normative discourses and the parallel contraction of realist assumptions and paradigms. Such developments are not entirely new of course given that bifurcated security perceptions in general, and assessments of North Korea in particular, have always been affected by the twin forces of inter-state and intra-national dynamics on the Korean Peninsula, e.g., the urge for national reunification coupled with the need to coping with key national issues. But the inconsistencies and parallel tensions in the ongoing security debate accelerated sharply during the tenure of the Kim Dae Jung Administration (1998–2003) and specifically, through the so-called sunshine policy or comprehensive engagement towards the North. The Roh Moo Hyun government, which came into office in February 2003, has also retained the basic framework of the sunshine policy but renamed as the socalled peace and prosperity policy. While the key objective of this paper lies in examining and isolating looming security challenges on the Korean Peninsula and not reviewing the pros and cons of sunshine policy, three major points should be emphasized. First, notwithstanding positive dividends stemming from the sunshine policy, it is important to also articulate its major shortcomings such as the