동북아 전략지형의 변동과 한국의 안보 선택

Strategic Geography of Northeast Asia and its Implications to Korean Security

The post-cold war security structure in Northeast Asia, which progresses from the remains of old historical conflicts and the cold war, is unstable. Major powers in the region cooperate for peace and stability, while competing for dominance and stronger influence at the same time. This eventually results in deepening a new shape of regional confrontational structure. Unlike Europe, which rapidly proceeded its cooperation and integration after the collapse of the cold war system, Northeast Asia has shown increasing conflict and division. The demise of the cold war system, instead of enhancing peace, opened the factors of conflict that had been concealed before. Many experts analyze that vestiges of traditional conflict and the Cold War may become a cause of military confrontation. This paper aims to analyze changing direction of regional security structure and its implications to Korean security. It analyzed the changing trends of regional powers' security and military strategies and the structural characteristics of their conflict and competition. Next, we studied how the shift in regional strategic geography affects the Korean security, and then made suggestions on which security strategies are most desirable for Korea.