[학술논문] Inter-Korean Relations in 2025: The Lee Administration's Pragmatic Recalibration after Yoon

...situating domestic political change within alliance and great-power dynamics, the article demonstrates that Lee's engagement efforts and pragmatic policies in 2025 functioned primarily as a risk management strategy aimed at stabilizing a deteriorating external environment surrounding the peninsula, rather than as a pathway toward denuclearization or a mechanism for facilitating substantive change in...

[학술논문] The Economic Rehabilitation of North Korea: Prospects after Kim Jong-il

Despite having signed or agreed to four formal weapon denuclearization agreements, the Kim Jong-il family regime in Pyongyang shows no fundamental willingness to give up its nuclear weapons. Therefore this article looks past the denuclearization issue, and examines the potential for a future rehabilitation of North Korea’s economy in a post -Kim era. Four economic sectors or challenges are analyzed...

[학술논문] Building Conditions for Peace on the Korean Peninsula: Prioritizing Countervalue over Counterforce

...doctrine, and explicit rejection of denuclearization. First, I assess North Korea’s current and near-term capabilities and plans, and the implications of a dual-capable, increasingly diversified nuclear force for crisis stability. Second, I weigh the assured-retaliation (countervalue) tradition against the denial-centric (counterforce) perspective spurred by advances in sensing, accuracy, and military...

[학술논문] Rebuilding Inter-Korean Relations: Prospects for an Inter-Korean Summit in the post-Chonan Incident Era

...they could be unilateral decisions made by Pyongyang. Another minimum achievement would be to secure North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization in Kim Jong‐Il's own words and then to insert those comments into a joint statement at the end of the summit. The Obama and Lee administrations must closely cooperate to achieve such objectives in an inter‐Korean summit. The two administrations have already...

[학술논문] China’s Role in the Second North Korean Nuclear Crisis

...leadership and put China in a tight spot diplomatically. Is China still a viable mediator to solve the North Korean nuclear problem? China has been central as facilitator, mediator, and host of the six‐party talks since 2003. China has pursued three vital national interests on the North Korean nuclear issue: first, peace and stability on the Korean peninsula; second, North Korea’s denuclearization; third...

[해외] China is confronting new realities on the Korean Peninsula

...situated within a broader strategic framework shaped by systemic stability, risk management, and the need to prevent further regional deterioration. From Beijing’s perspective, the peninsula is not merely a nuclear issue or a bilateral diplomatic problem between Washington and Pyongyang. Multiple pressures and strategic issues have converged, including North Korea’s further consolidation of its nuclear...

[해외] North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons and Missile Programs

...nuclear, and missile-applicable technology, expertise, and materials to the DPRK." A trilateral statement of the United States, South Korea, and Japan reiterates their "steadfast commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea." North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has repeatedly rejected denuclearization negotiations since the most recent talks in 2019 between President Donald J. Trump and Kim broke...

[해외] Should Japan change its approach to North Korean denuclearization?

...Shinzo Abe era, the Takaichi administration places greater emphasis on strengthening Japan-South Korea relations as a central piece of regional security cooperation. Nevertheless, as Japan has expanded its deterrence capabilities and cooperation with Seoul and Washington, the denuclearization of North Korea remains at an impasse. This issue constitutes the most critical security concern for Japan.

[해외] Pyongyang’s northern turn is reshaping the Korean Peninsula

..., and to negotiate on that basis. In this evolving context, South Korea’s long-standing goals of denuclearization and unification are becoming increasingly distant. Accordingly, the South Korean government is seeking to create regional conditions conducive to reengagement with North Korea—prioritizing U.S.-North Korea summits and diplomacy toward China and Russia—rather than remaining overly fixated...

[해외] Rethinking North Korea diplomacy

...shifting geopolitics in Northeast Asia are shaping peace and instability on the Korean Peninsula. Recent signals from both Trump and Kim indicate openness to a meeting, pointing to a potential pathway to renewed diplomatic engagement. Paradoxically, however, such signals may also complicate the long-standing objective of North Korean denuclearization. The central question, then, is whether a resumption...