윤석열 정부의 대북정책·한미관계 방향과 정책적 과제

The Yoon Seok-yeol Administration's Policy on North Korea and the Direction of ROK-U.S. Relations and Policy Tasks

The direction of Yoon Seok-yeol's North Korea policy and foreign relations can be summarized as "first U.S.-South Korea relations, later inter-Korean relations," "first international cooperation after inter-Korean cooperation," and "first denuclearization after peace." At the same time, it is expected that the it will be more active on North Korean human rights issues than Moon Jae In government. The Yoon Seok-yeol administration's policy toward the U.S. is aimed at a "comprehensive strategic alliance" that expands the international role of the Korea-U.S. alliance by normalizing the Korea-U.S. alliance and restoring cooperation. This is expected to strength the Korea-U.S. economic alliance and technology alliance in the international supply chain. In order to smoothly operate the Korea-U.S. alliance, efforts to cooperate with South Korea, the U.S., and Japan are expected to be strengthened by restoring relations with Japan. If North Korea makes a high-intensity provocation, it will resume its strategy to deter the North Korea and will resume the actual joint exercise between South Korea and the U.S.. Since the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's foreign relations are likely to flow around the U.S., opposition and checks from China and Russia will be inevitable. In this regard, since a new Cold War atmosphere is likely to form in Northeast Asia, South Korea needs a high level of ability to coordinate diplomatic and security issues between the U.S., China, and the U.S. and Russia to prevent them from getting worse. In this regard, the additional THAAD deployment under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration will be the right time to proceed if North Korea resumes its nuclear test, and participation in the Quad should be strategically approached according to the timing and conditions.