Korean Endgame

by Harrison, Selig S.

• ISBN13: 9780691116266
• ISBN10: 0691116261
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Nearly half a century after the fighting stopped, the 1953 Armistice has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War. While Russia and China withdrew the last of their forces in 1958, the United States maintains 37,000 troops in South Korea and is pledged to defend it with nuclear weapons. InKorean Endgame, Selig Harrison mounts the first authoritative challenge to this long-standing U.S. policy. Harrison shows why North Korea is not--as many policymakers expect--about to collapse. And he explains why existing U.S. policies hamper North-South reconciliation and reunification. Assessing North Korean capabilities and the motivations that have led to its forward deployments, he spells out the arms control concessions by North Korea, South Korea, and the United States necessary to ease the dangers of confrontation, centering on reciprocal U.S. force redeployments and U.S. withdrawals in return for North Korean pullbacks from the thirty-eighth parallel. Similarly, he proposes specific trade-offs to forestall the North's development of nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, calling for the withdrawal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella in conjunction with agreements to denuclearize Korea embracing China, Russia, and Japan. The long-term goal of U.S. policy, he argues, should be the full disengagement of U.S. combat forces from Korea as part of regional agreements insulating the peninsula from all foreign conventional and nuclear forces. A veteran journalist with decades of extensive firsthand knowledge of North Korea and long-standing contacts with leaders in Washington, Seoul, and Pyongyang, Harrison is perfectly placed to make these arguments. Throughout, he supports his analysis with revealing accounts of conversations with North Korean, South Korean, and U.S. leaders over thirty-five years. Combining probing scholarship with a seasoned reporter's on-the-ground experience and insights, he has given us the definitive book on U.S. policy in Korea--past, present, and future.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Overview: The United States and Korea	xiii
PART I Will North Korea Collapse?	1	(66)
CHAPTER 1 The Paralysis of American Policy	3	(5)
CHAPTER 2 Nationalism and the "Permanent Siege Mentality"	8	(13)
CHAPTER 3 The Confucian Legacy	21	(4)
CHAPTER 4 Reform by Stealth	25	(23)
CHAPTER 5 Gold, Oil, and the Basket-Case Image	48	(5)
CHAPTER 6 Kim Jong Il and His Successors	53	(14)
PART II Reunification: Postponing the Dream	67	(44)
CHAPTER 7 Trading Places	69	(5)
CHAPTER 8 Confederation or Absorption?	74	(28)
CHAPTER 9 The United States and Reunification	102	(9)
PART III Toward U.S. Disengagement	111	(84)
CHAPTER 10 Tripwire	113	(11)
CHAPTER 11 The United States and the Military Balance	124	(14)
CHAPTER 12 New Opportunities for Arms Control	138	(16)
CHAPTER 13 Ending the Korean War	154	(20)
CHAPTER 14 The Tar Baby Syndrome	174	(16)
CHAPTER 15 Guidelines for U.S. Policy	190	(5)
PART IV Toward a Nuclear-Free Korea	195	(90)
CHAPTER 16 The U.S. Nuclear Challenge to North Korea	197	(4)
CHAPTER 17 The North Korean Response	201	(14)
CHAPTER 18 The 1994 Compromise: Can It Survive?	215	(16)
CHAPTER 19 Japan and Nuclear Weapons	231	(14)
CHAPTER 20 South Korea and Nuclear Weapons	245	(12)
CHAPTER 21 Guidelines for U.S. Policy	257	(28)
PART V Korea in Northeast Asia	285	(72)
CHAPTER 22 Will History Repeat Itself?	287	(3)
CHAPTER 23 Korea, Japan, and the United States	290	(16)
CHAPTER 24 Korea, China, and the United States	306	(22)
CHAPTER 25 Korea, Russia, and the United States	328	(19)
CHAPTER 26 Then and Now: The Case for a Neutral Korea	347	(10)
Notes to the Chapters	357	(36)
Afterword to the Paperback Edition	393	(8)
Index	401