Archives

Bruce Klingner, Korea analyst for Eurasia Group, the world’s largest political-risk consultancy firm, writes “even if China could achieve a resumption of six-party talks – most likely by having Pyongyang agree to distinguish between the illegal actions of ‘rogue’ North Korean companies and the government – the nuclear negotiations would remain deadlocked.”

Steve Noerper, who teaches Asia Today at New York University and was a Fulbright Senior Scholar to the National University of Mongolia, writes “the downfall of Mongolia’s coalition government late Friday marks a relapse for freedom’s progress in a country that until recently had been held out as a harbinger for new democracies in the region.”

Ruediger Frank, Professor of East Asian Political Economy at the University of Vienna, writes “there is both a high risk of conflict as well as a good chance for progress on the Korean Peninsula.The Korean government therefore has a chance to actively shape the Northeast Asian future by its efforts toward North Korea, and it can utilize regional dynamics to support its policy toward the DPRK. Maintaining a proper relationship with the United States appears to be of key importance for either task.”

NAPSNet Policy Forum Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland January 12th, 2006 I. INTRODUCTION Stephan Haggard, a professor of international relations at the University of California, San Diego, where he directs the Korea-Pacific Program, and Marcus Noland, senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics, Washington, write“a revival of the failed socialist model would not only […]

Andrei Lankov, a lecturer in the faculty of Asian Studies, China and Korea Center, at Australian National University who is currently on leave, teaching at Kookmin University, Seoul, writes “active intervention in North Korea will undermine the remarkable goodwill toward China, which can be seen among many neighbors as the rising giant. So, it is more likely that the Chinese will avoid political adventurism and limit themselves to gaining economic advantages in the northern part of the Korean peninsula.”

Col. Jiyul Kim, Director of Asian Studies at the US Army War College, writes “South Korean politics is in a profound period of transition as the result of a generational shift, the end of the Cold War, democratization, and growing self-confidence. Among the emerging political forces, those that are creating the most important political fault lines are the ideologies of pan-Korean nationalism and anti-Great Power-ism. These trends could well mark the end of the U.S. — South Korean alliance as we know it.”

Ruediger Frank, Professor of East Asian Political Economy at the University of Vienna, writes, “If pressure exerted through economic, political, or military means increases to a level that is high enough to trigger a qualitative change such as regime collapse, we might end up with a successful surgery, but a dead patient. Both sanctions and assistance naturally involve a great deal of uncertainty and risk. But while we can still change the engagement therapy after the failure of one type of medicine, the failure of a hard-line approach will leave us with irreversible damage.”

Ruediger Frank, Professor of East Asian Political Economy at the University of Vienna, writes, “There is nothing mystical about North Korea; it is just a highly intransparent case of ordinary development – as easy or as hard to understand as any other example. It can be expected that the closer the institutional structure in North Korea comes to the international mainstream, the easier it will get to integrate this case into standard theoretical models and to compare it with other examples.”

CONTENTS I. Introduction II. Essay by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland I. Introduction Stephan Haggard, a professor of international relations at the University of California, San Diego, where he directs the Korea-Pacific Program, and Marcus Noland, senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics, Washington, write“a revival of the failed socialist model would not only […]

David Kang , associate professor of government, adjunct associate professor and research director at the Center for International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and co-author of Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies, writes “The United States can improve its position in East Asia, as well as solidify its alliance with South Korea, by widening its focus beyond North Korean denuclearization and coming out strongly and enthusiastically in favor of Korean unification.”