South Koreas Policy towards North Korea Essay Example for Free

South Koreas Policy towards North Korea Essay The purpose of this essay to address issues concerned with foreign policy of one state over another. In this paper the main concern is South Korea’s policy toward North Korea with emphasis on brief history of past and present foreign policy. A brief description of the Korean government gives clarifications about historical and cultural highlights. The Korean Peninsula was initially populated by Tungusic people who originated from Asia. One major outstanding feature of the Koreans is the homogeneity of their race and language. Korea has been influenced, invaded and fought over by its neighbors throughout its history. Historically, the critical point is the forced separation that lies between south and North Korea. South Korea is a democratic government while North Korea is a communist government. The stable relationship between U. S and North Korea closely relates to existence of stability between North and South Korea. Since the Korean war North Korea has remained to be hostile to the entire world and especially United States. Over the decades the policy of dealing with North Korea changed in correspondence to diplomacy and other key foreign policies. The relationship between North Korea and South Korea which was initiated by the U. S government under grids its foreign policy. Since the Korean War, the North and South Korea have had bad political experience. Recently, North Korea has developed mixed policy to create economic relations with South Korea. At the same time, North Korea seeks to denounce security relationship with U. S and to win support of South Korea. The rot cause of division between the North and South was the military demarcation. It is held that the military demarcation line is a temporary but not a permanent administrative line. At the time of postwar period, both Korean governments confirmed their desire to reunify the Korean Peninsula but this was never implemented (Mo, 2007). The unification process took along way through participation of different governmental, political and humanitarian agencies. South Korea agreed dialogue with the North and this promoted the establishment of foreign policies that promoted international forums. A major concern between the North and south was to deal with security issues. Major development in matters of reconciliation, cooperation, exchanges and nonaggression was established. The establishment of such developments led to implementation of basic agreements. A joint declaration was made to promote peace which prevented the South and North from manufacturing, testing, storing, receiving, possessing, using and deploying nuclear weapons. Possession of uranium enrichment facilities was also forbidden and this has been made possible through establishment of inter-Korean inspection unit. The possession of nuclear weapons worsened the position between the North and south. The North nuclear program was a major issue in North and South Korea relationship. When North Korea blocked IAEA from inspecting two suspected nuclear waste sites the condition worsened. The involvement of foreign powers especially United States led to establishment of agreements in nuclear matters. The agreed frame work was not long lasting a North Korea was discovered to be pursuing uranium enrichment programs related to nuclear weapons. A new policy of engagement called Sunshine Policy which had three fundamental policies was established. The principles included no tolerance of provocations from North, no intention to absorb the North and separation of political cooperation from economic cooperation. The private sector was based on commercial and humanitarian considerations. This also led to reciprocity which was influenced entirely by the use of government resources. The South Korea policy towards North Korea was enhanced by proper administration and governance. Proper foreign policies administered towards North Korea led to the current situation. One major critical issue to be addressed is the Sunshine policy which aimed at engaging the Korean government into peaceful coexistence. A major consideration in this policy requires for patience and long time horizons clearly manifested in South Korean government. The political structure of South Korea government was strong and this led to empowerment of the North. Although there has been different view points relating the way of governance in South Korea, the cold war, influence of international politics and threat from North Korea had far reaching implications. Internal factors also contributed a big percentage in correspondence to political structure of South Korea. Observation of traditional repressive rule contributed as part of internal factors in addition to ideological rigidity and authoritarian practices. The desire for unification initiated by South Korea government was made possible through gradual exploration and functionalist considerations. The approaches applied by South Korea government contributed a big percentage in unification of South and North Korea. A major concern about the national goals and interest was democratization and focus of the opposition. Gradual creation of a link between struggle fore democracy and unification desire led to development of positive measures that led massive growth of the middle class. Achievement of democracy in South Korea was influenced by economic security, postponement of unification and prolonged dictatorial rule (Mo, 2007). It was seen as the first step towards democratization which was an essential in promotion of peace and unification. The presidential tenure of Kim determined the establishment of new era of reconciliation and cooperation with North Korea. As a long term leader in Southern Korea, President Kim established democratic forces. He built his leadership power on the successes of his predecessors without experiencing problems of political constraints and military back ground. Withdrawal of North Korea from Nuclear Non—proliferation treaty led to a major crisis. Failure to integrate strong policies about unification and democratization jeopardized his governance. President Kim had to device policies which could safeguard his leadership and he opted to merge his party with conservatives. However, his policies about social and cultural transition critically led to improvement in policy process. Three broad policy options that South Korea traded to North Korea such as the Sunshine policy, rule of reciprocity and raise of humanitarian issues had great influence in unification of the south and North Korea. The sunshine policy aimed at pressurizing North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal for purpose of democratic development and unification. The prevailing assumptions and conditions put in place through establishment of the sunshine policy aimed at weakening North Koreas broader economy. The sunshine policy aimed at receiving peace and unification between the North and the South. Coexistence is one of the most important aspects which promote the future relationship of North and South Korea. The three principles clearly denounce the unification process as the two push for reconciliation and cooperation. Two major considerations are paramount in trying to achieve a successful unification. First, the use of force by the governments will not amount to unification and thus a strong defense posture should be incorporated. Recognition of a strong deterrent is the fist priority which aims at maintaining a national defense capacity. As second measure is promotion of an atmosphere that helps Pyongyang to enforce reforms that will bring changes (Mo, 2007). Through this development South Korea government has made it clear that its intention is not to absorb the North. The rule of reciprocity is another broad policy option by the south to the North. This rule is simple and simply means that do for others what you expect or want them to do for you. In this aspect South Korea proposed policies that were easy to implement and promoted the rights of the North. It is a humanitarian rule that protects the fundamental rights of other individuals without interfering with their operations. A third policy option is the raise of humanitarian issues such as provision of basic requirements in the aspect of politics, economic and religion. It is a policy that aimed at bringing together individuals without dictatorship or the use of force. The sunshine policy is the most outstanding option among the others which led to proper unification and cooperation of the North and South. The Sunshine policy provides an environment that promotes application of governance policies and encourage the North to come out of its political cocoons. It aims at engaging the Pyongyang to a safe place with the objective of convincing the concerned parties to reconcile and achieve permanent peace. Reunification is the most critical aspect of national objective for the Koreans. This is only achievable after confronting the effects of the Cold war. A half century distrust and enmity that existed between the two states was replaced through the Sunshine policy. A major concern was implementation of policies that led to reconciliation and cooperation for purpose of peaceful coexistence (Mo, 2007). A mutual trust has thus been established that promotes peace and unity without intimidation of one state by another. The government is very concerned through implementation of the Sunshine Policy about the benefits the North expects from the South. Application of hostile and blockade policies would only result to a worse situation of political and military confrontation. This was not the objective of the South as political tension would result to a burden in the two sides. In addition in the case the North Korea could collapse as a result of blockade the cost of care would go up. The success of the Sunshine policy is as a result of massive support from foreign forces such as the U. S, china and neighboring countries. The three principles governing the Sunshine policy had positive implications in acquisition of peace and reconciliation. Some of the merits of this policy include first, the policy received a lot of support and this led to economic assistance to North Korea during the time of food shortage. This made it possible to encourage North Korea about the benefits of unification and democratization. It promoted the desire to reach many Koreans for purpose of coexistence a vital element in unification. A second advantage of the policy was promotion of future economic policy. The future development of North Korea was enhanced through adoption of the Sunshine policy which strengthened political structure and existence of peace (Mo, 20070. Through establishment of strong policies such as strict restriction of armed provocation was a\n important consideration for purpose of unification. The sunshine policy also had advantages in that it protected the South from absorbing the North which promoted independence. The Sunshine Policy resulted to cooperation of the South and North which was one of the main principles of the policy option. On the other hand, the sunshine policy had certain drawbacks. First, after the nuclear and missile tests, South Korea suspended aid to the North and put their military on high alert. This had far reaching effects on a growing economy. Withdrawal of aid at this stage resulted to establishment of barriers that prevented other states from providing aid of any kind to the North. A second draw back is the Sunshine policy was proposed for purpose of political gain of the South. It is criticized as a policy that led to continuous provocations and criminal activities that saw many individual lose their lives. In this aspect the policy was against humanitarian provisions of protecting individuals. References Mo, J. (2007). What Does South Korea Want? Policy Review. Vol. , p. 6-35