North Korean Nuclear Crisis: Options for South Korea

From South Koreas perspective, North Koreas nuclear problem poses one of the most serious stumbling blocks to its peace and prosperity policy toward the North. One of the simplest strategies to defend North Koreas WMD threat is to cope with traditional military deterrence. Most of the military measures to press North Korean regime did not achieve a noticeable success. Hence, it is a time to formulate a novel approach toward North Koreas nuclear issues. South Korea should actively support international nonproliferation regime. It must be emphasized that a complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is a first premise toward a peaceful unification. A selective engagement, supported by credible conventional and nuclear deterrence, can be another option to deal with North Korean nuclear issue. Compared to these approaches, a cooperative threat reduction approach can provide a safer solution to North Korean nuclear issue. To apply a cooperative threat reduction approach to North Korean case, minimum political-military confidence among North Korea, South Korea, and the United States may be a prerequisite. Once such mutual trust is set in, the next step is formulating an acceptable incentive for North Korea in return for giving up its WMD ambitions. South Korea should take a lead in organizing international consortium to promote economic assistance to North Korea.

keywords: North Korean nuclear crisis, South Koreas approach, non-proliferation, cooperative threat reduction, North Korean nuclear crisis, South Koreas approach, non-proliferation, cooperative threat reduction

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Article Contents

Vol.45 No.4

North Korean Nuclear Crisis: Options for South Korea

Abstract

Reference

Korea Journal