동북아의 평화와 조일교섭

Peace in the Northeast Asia, and the Diplomatic Negotiations between North Korea and Japan

A hundred years ago, the Daehan Empire failed to bring proper reforms to the country, and also lost the capability to effectively mediate the Western powers which had clashing interests in this region. Therefore, the Daehan empire was forced to face a distinct possibiliry of losing its own sovereignty. China also, became the battleground for the Imperialist Western powers for the duration of the early half of the 20th century. Japan, on the other hand, successfully went through the Myeongchi Yushin reforms, and based upon the Denno Imperial Administration, Japan became an empire itself. Then it chose to resort to blatant invasions of nearby areas, which did help Japan solve its own internal problems. The current situation of the Northeast Asian region did not much change at all, compared to the situation we contemplated above. Since the end of the war, Japan has failed to properly and successfully resolve its own dark past, which is tainted with unwarranted invasions. On the contrary, an ultra right-wing conservatism is flourishing everywhere in Japan, and with the ‘generous’ help from the U.S., it still dreams of becoming the dominant nation in Asia, albeit such domination would not be possible without U.S. support of Japan. China is no exception, as it also dreams to restore the Sino-centric regional order to the Northeast Asia, based upon its economic development which has progressed since the birth of China’s reformation and ‘opening-up-the-nation’ policy. Yet there are also some differences. First, the potential threat to U.S. and Japan is not considered to be Russia, which has unfortunately inherited the aftermath of the U.S.S.R.’s collapse, anymore. lt is now China. Second, unlike hundred years ago, today the Korean peninsula is sustaining two divided countries caught in the paradigm which could be described as ‘Land-based power vs Maritime-based power’. And these two entities are still exchanging hostilities and threats. Third, which could be considered as the most definitive difference between now and the past, U.S.’s pursuit for dominancy based upon the capital interests of the military munitions manufacturers is now not only threatening the peace of the Northeast Asian region but also peace of the entire world. Unlike the situation of hundred years ago, in which Western Imperialist powers were checking each other in a sort of ‘status-quo of power’ status, U.S. is now enjoying its position as the single most influential super power in the world. Since the Cold war was ended, U.S. has displayed a series of foreign policies that were designed to establish a national security crisis situation domestically by establishing a ‘devil in the dream’ scenario, and also designed to continuously wage wars dictared by the interests of the military munitions manufacturers and the oil companies. The phenomenon of ever-strengthening right-wing conservatism which has been considered to be a problem since the 1990s is by itself a demonstration of a problem which had not been resolved by either U.S. or Japan due to their own internal problems and instead simply buried in the aftermath of the war Examination of the Japanese society and the process of negotiations between North Korea and Japan, which had continued since the Japanese defeat in 1945 and through the 1980s, reveals that there were no notable results coming out of the negotiations in the early stages because of Japan’s not so forthcoming attitude in negotiating with North Korea, and the also passive and negative attitude coming from both North Korea and the U.S.. But in the late 1980s, Japan turned to conduct active negotiations with North Korea, in order to amplify its own influence as the master of the ‘Bubble Economy’, and in 1990 established the ‘Joint Proclamation of the Three Parties’.