Reconstituting Korean Security

Hazel Smith, Ed.

Reconstituting Korean Security: A Policy Primer
Edited by Hazel Smith

ISBN 978-92-808-1144-5
paper; 302 pp
US$34.00
September 2007

The classic national security concerns of nuclear proliferation and the production, sale and use of weapons of mass destruction cannot be addressed in the Korean peninsula without at the same time considering the implications and interrelationship of what are these days known as the human security issues of food, poverty and, perhaps more controversially, freedom.

We agree that East Asia and the world are more dangerous with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the DPRK or North Korea) in possession of nuclear weapons. We also argue, however, that a comprehensive security analysis identifies many equally significant threats to regional security, such as the risk from industrial and nuclear accidents and the potential for transborder crime arising from the lack of legal and productive avenues for economic activity for North Korea's poverty-stricken citizens. This book shows that, in Korea, soft security issues are as important as hard security matters and that the latter cannot be understood, or its dilemmas unravelled, without a clear engagement with the former.

This book tackles Korean security dilemmas from the perspective of the various international actors, not just from the viewpoint of the major protagonists – the DPRK and the United States. We show that different states and international organizations have different and multiple interests in their relationships with the DPRK and with each other.

Our contributors are internationally renowned experts on Korea from all over the globe. They combine well-informed, acute and professional analysis with recommendations for a comprehensive strategy for successful policy interventions in the multifaceted Korean security crisis.

"This book should come as meat and drink to those who have been looking for a multidisciplinary, internationally oriented approach to the many problems that will arise when North Korea slowly emerges from its self-imposed isolation."

—Donald P. Gregg, Chairman of the Board, The Korea Society, New York

Hazel Smith is Professor of International Relations at the University of Warwick, UK.

Foreword
Ambassador Donald P. Gregg
Reconstituting Korean security dilemmas
Hazel Smith
Creating Korean insecurity: The US role
Bruce Cumings
Living with ambiguity: North Korea's strategic weapons programmes
Gary Samore and Adam Ward
Economic security in the DPRK
Bradley O. Babson
Food security: The case for multisectoral and multilateral cooperation
Hazel Smith
The preconditions for Korean security: US policy and the legacy of 1945
Selig S. Harrison
The DPRK economic crisis and the ROK security dilemma
Suk Lee
Korean security dilemmas: Chinese policies
Ren Xiao
Japan and North Korea – The quest for normalcy
Gavan McCormack
Korean security dilemmas: A Russian perspective
Georgy Bulychev
Korean security dilemmas: European Union policies
Maria Castillo Fernandez
Korean security dilemmas: ASEAN policies and perspective
John D. Ciorciari
Korean security: A policy primer
Hazel Smith