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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

The Korean Peninsula and Korea-U.S. Strategic Cooperation

The 4th Seoul-Washington Forum, co-hosted by the Korea Foundation and the Brookings Institution was held in Washington D.C. (May 3-4, 2010). It generated considerable attention due to recent development, such as heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula following the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, along with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s visit to China.



As compared to previous sessions of the Seoul-Washington Forum, which tended to focus on the Korea-U.S. alliance relations or North Korean issues, this year’s gathering centered on the G-20 Summit, global governance, political changes in Northeast Asia, and Korea’s strategy toward East Asia. It also addressed the North Korean situation in consideration of the rapidly changing political circumstances on the Korean Peninsula.
The participants of the Korean delegation included various politicians, businessmen, scholars, and specialists of international politics, Northeast Asia, and North Korea. For the U.S. side, its representatives included East Asia and Korea specialists, government officials, and researchers, who engaged in extensive discussion on the selected subject areas.

G-20 Summit in Seoul
The forum’s initial focus involved the G-20 Summit and recent developments related to global governance. Of note, with Korea currently serving as the chair of the G-20 for 2010, this year’s G-20 Summit will be hosted by Seoul in November 2010. Such issues as the status and future mission of the G-20 have emerged as important matters of concern, since the economic crisis, which originated in the United States in 2008, has spread worldwide, there are now various initiatives that call for oversight of the global economy from a broadened perspective. The Korean speakers and the American experts expressed a wide range of opinions on the status of and prospects for the G-20, including the particular role of Korea.
Meanwhile, Korea has responded effectively to the economic crisis and thus intends to help establish a new financial order to prevent another economic crisis. Moreover, as a noteworthy development model that has managed to join the ranks of the world’s advanced countries, Korea strives to assume an intermediary role to link together the advanced economies of the G-7 with the world’s developing economies. In addition, the forum participants assessed the development of the G-20 and engaged in lively discussion about the world’s economic order, especially in regard to the financial sector. They identified factors behind the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, and discussed various proposals for an exit strategy and the prevention of another crisis. The evolving global order was another topic of discussion. Especially, questions about a weakening of the overall economic influence of the United States, as a result of the financial crisis, were discussed in considerable detail. The specialists from the U.S. side offered a wide range of opinions about the status of the United States and their thoughts about the future role of the U.S. in various regards.

Korea’s Strategy toward East Asia
In the aftermath of the economic crisis, another session focused on East Asia and regional matters like the ongoing ascension of China. The economic crisis has opened up the U.S. leadership to intense scrutiny, a significant point not only globally but also within the East Asian region as well. In particular, the importance of China to the new global order has received much attention. The forum participants sought to examine recent developments in the international politics of East Asia, which has been experiencing rapid change because of factors such as the global economic crisis and the continuous rise of China.
As a result of the economic crisis, China has raised pointed questions about the U.S.-led world economic order, along with expressing its criticism on the status of the U.S. dollar as the world’s key currency and the deficiencies of the financial sector. The forum participants shed light on the global economic role of China and discussed possible changes be brought about by the rise of China. This discussion naturally led to an exchange of opinions regarding Korea’s strategy toward the United States, China, and East Asia. It was also noted that each of the East Asian countries should make cooperative efforts to overcome problem areas since East Asia is experiencing various postmodern phenomenas, including a transition to modernity, modern international politics,and a need to address multilateral issues. All of the countries of the region have been offering various proposals to help advance East Asian multilateralism, which should be highly evaluated as an effort to realize regional cooperation. But there is also a need for significant improvement in several aspects, the participants noted, due to a tendency to focus on maximizing each country’s self-interest.
Korea and the United States are actively striving to move forward with more cooperative relations in East Asia. Related to this, the participants noted that the two countries need to formulate a common strategy for the promotion of East Asian multilateralism. Particular attention was paid to the evolution of the Korea-U.S. alliance into a more complex relationship, along with a broadening of the range of issues and the geographical scope of their bilateral cooperation. Emphasis was also placed on a need for efforts to integrate an alliance strategy with the promotion of Northeast Asian multilateralism.

North Korean Situation
A final area of discussion involved the North Korean situation. As for the recent sinking of the South’s naval vessel (Cheonan), the participants delved into the military situation on the Korean Peninsula, along with calling for closer cooperation between Korea and the United States to assure military stability on the peninsula. A sharp divergence was seen between the Korean and American sides in regard to the potential impact of the sinking of the Korean naval ship on the ongoing efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue and resume the Six-Party Talks in the future.
The importance of close coordination between Korea and the United States for the resolution of the North Korean nuclear matter was especially emphasized. Along with a comprehensive analysis of the economic situation of North Korea, stability of the Kim Jong-il regime, and the process of power succession, the Korean and American experts discussed North Korea’s likely strategy toward its nuclear programs, the Korean Peninsula, and negotiations with the United States.
They also discussed the ive of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s visit to China, future direction of Sino-North Korean relations, and China’s strategy to address the Korea Peninsula situation. North Korea intends to maintain a stable structure of power succession through its special relations with China, and feels an absolute need for China’s economic support to overcome its economic crisis. China’s role as a responsible power is an instrumental factor for the eventual resolution of Korean Peninsula issues, while Korea and the United States should make efforts to reinforce their cooperation with China.
The recent Seoul-Washington Forum was a meaningful gathering as it included comprehensive discussion between key figures of Korea and the United States on East Asian and global issues, beyond the Korean Peninsula situation. The Korea specialists in the United States expressed their opinions on East Asia overall, and the world’s economic order beyond a discussion focused on Korea, which featured lively exchanges on the gradual expansion of the content and extent of Korea-U.S. strategic cooperation. It should be highly assessed that the forum explored a new strategic role for Korea.

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