Abstract  

This paper examines the structural weakness of Sun-Goon(military-first) Politics as North Korea's military strategy and seeks to show a new strategy of transformation in North Korea's military affairs. It is a strategy that transforms North Korea's internal and external structures simultaneously. The North Korean problem can neither be solved by the changes in North Korea's external environment, nor by its own efforts for political and economic reform. The North Korean problem will be able to be resolved only when North Korea makes a strategic decision to give up its nuclear weapons and pursue political and economic reform while international society guarantees and supports its security and development. The essence of the strategy lies in how to resolve the Sun-Goon dilemma of oversecurity and surplus military affairs. This strategy consists of three stages. First, North Korea decides to give up its nuclear weapons when a new leadership rises after Kim Jong-Il, while international society guarantees its internal and external security. Second, North Korea gets out of the security dilemma by carrying out its pledge of nuclear renunciation and shifting the national strategy from Sun-Goon Politics to Sun-Kyoung(economy-first) Politics. Third, Sun-Goon Politics is completely replaced by Sun-Kyoung Politics, leading to arms reduction on the Korean peninsula and North Korea's joining of the Northeast Asian multilateral security cooperation.

The full text in Korean is available here