[특집] 한반도 평화체제의 제문제

The Implication of Worldwide Peace Agreements for Korean Peninsula

The Korean Peninsula Peace Regime poses considerable challenges to both Koreas and international community especially in East Asia. As the Cold War ended and new hopes and expectations arise in the Post-Cold War era, we are confronted with the need to adopt a new system of peace regime on the Korean peninsula to bring out stability and peace in this region. Particularly, the current four-party talks among the two Koreas, the United States, and China set up two major agendas for their discussions. One of them is the issue of the Korean Peninsula Peace Regime Building. In this article I investigate what is the most desirable and feasible alternative to peace regime on the Korean peninsula. In doing so, I examine various successful peace negotiations in the world, exploring important implications for the Korean case. I argue that the situation on the Korean peninsula is not perfectly peacefu1. but at the same time not in militarily conflict. It is unstable due largely to the situation of North Korea and its brinkmanship. Thus, it is quite different from the Vietnamese case before its reunification. The role of the United States in the Paris peace negotiations, which eventually led to the reunification by the North Vietnam, was crucial and noteworthy. The United States had negotiated with North Vietnam through clandestine negotiations. I believe that this kind of negotiation behavior is not appropriate and should not be permissible from the South Korean point of view. I argue that in peace negotiation on the Korean peninsula, both South and North Korea only can and should solve the problem. While other actors such as the United States and China can help us, their role should be limited to supplementary or auxiliary one. Both Koreas-already had reached an ideal type of peace agreement, that is, the Basic Agreement in 1991. Simply with the return of this Basic Agreement, we can achieve peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. The peace regime on the Korean peninsula itself is not a panacea for peace and stability in the region, but it could be absolutely a good departure for it.