A Study On The North Korea Policy Of Lee Myung-bak’s Administration

Although the Cold War has ended, the relations between North and South Korea still maintains at a state of the Cold war. North and South Korea was originally a country, so South Korea’s policy toward North Korea is comparatively special. South Korea has been working hard to improve relations between the two countries. After the Cold War, the Korean administration changed six times. Each administration’s policy toward North Korea was different.Lee Myung-bak shows his special background through the characteristics of content and practice. Lee Myung-bak administration’s North Korea policy tried to correct the problems with one-sided economic support to North Korea from the former administration’s policy. Lee Myung-bak administration’s policy toward North Korea is different from Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun administration’s policy. When beginning Lee Myung-bak administration, they set up a different principle of "Giving up the North Korean nuclear and opening up North Korea" from the previous administration. In particular, North Korea’s nuclear development and the security threat were priority factors that made The policy of mutual benefit and common prosperity’.Lee Myung-bak administration explained the firm principle that there must be progress before the denuclearization in North Korea. As a result, in order to solve the nuclear issue of North Korea, Lee Myung-bak administration has promoted "Vision3000:Denuclearization and Openness ","A new peace Conception of Korea Peninsula", and "Grand Bargain" policy.In order to solve North Korea and the nuclear issue of North Korea, Lee Myung-bak administration improved alliance between South Korea and the U.S. to the strategic Alliance, and under this background resolve nuclear problems in North Korea, and finally the strategic Alliance is trying to build a peace regime on the Korea peninsula.However, North Korea rebounded vigorously from the beginning about the North Korea policy of Lee Myung-bak administration. North Korea provided that Lee Myung-bak administration was’anti-reunification and dependent on the power of a foreign country’ and publicly denounced’Policy of Mutual Benefits and Common Prosperity’ as a hostile policy toward North Korea. North Korea tried to stick to the powerful framework of inter-Korean relations in the past. North Korea has demanded Lee Myung-bak administration change the North Korea policy through the tension in the Korea peninsula. Conflict of Radical and Conservative parties in Korea have been deployed in complex aspects to overlap and conflict between North and South Korea.In March2010, after ’the Cheonan sinking incident’ in South Korea, the military tension on the Korean Peninsula has been growing rapidly. The circumstantial development related to’the Cheonan sinking incident’ creates complex and concurrent political ramifications in diversified and multilayered dimensions including:overall North Korean issues and inter-Korean relations, reinforcement of North Korea-China alliance, changes in political phase and foreign policy of China, and changes of South Korea-China alliance and the U.S-China alliance beyond the problem of North Korean military provocation.Blocked by the development of inter-Korea relations led to war talks agains t North Korea. And it made an impact on Lee Myung-bak administration’s poli cy toward North Korea. That formed a vicious circle hindering the further dev elopment of inter-Korea relations again. The conflict between North Korea and South Korea is not limited to the political and security parts, it also has a ba d influence on the north-south economic cooperation and the practice of human itarianism.Lee Myung-bak administration’s tough policy on North Korea made South Korea, Japan, and the United States help build strong system and promoted strong relations between China and North Korea alliance and South Korea and the United States alliance. The bilateral relations and the deepening of South Korea-U.S. alliance, and the relations of China-North Korea hindered the development of inter-Korea relations further. Thus, a tense situation on the Korean peninsula in the northeast Asian region,"the new cold war" pattern of confrontation is created. The North Korea policy of Lee Myung-bak administration had been taken with the attitude of just watching and waiting for the first change of North Korea during his tenure with "Vision3000:Denuclearization and Openness " and "Grand Bargain" policy. But those kinds of policies led to the tough tension between South Korea and North Korea.