Theorization of Kim Dae Jung’s Pursuit of Inter-Korean Economic Exchanges: Complex interdependence model

This paper aims to provide an adequate theoretical interpretation of the South Korean government’s North Korea policy led by Kim Dae Jung with a particular focus on his attempts to promote inter-Korean trade under political hostility. It finds the so-called ‘Jŏngkyŏng Bulli’ initiative and permission of inter-Korean contact through multiple channels as key elements that facilitated uninterrupted growth of trade between the two Koreas while the military confrontation still prevailed. As a preliminary analytical framework to explain the substantial changes in inter-Korean relations during the Kim Dae Jung presidency, this paper proposes complex interdependence model as an ideal type of relationship. The model reflects a key pattern of changes in international relations, typified by transnational interaction and asymmetrical reciprocity, and these notions also create a backdrop that generated the Kim Dae Jung policy in establishing improved economic exchanges with the DPRK.