Research On U.S. Policies Toward DPRK Under Bill Clinton Administration

After the end of the Cold War, with the collapse of Soviet Union, the United States became the only superpower in the world, no country can be its rival either in hard and soft power. In this context, the United States seeks to establish a major new world order in which US is the only leader, and it strived to ensure the continuing influence of US in the 21 st century. At this time, the Asia-Pacific region, whose status in the US national strategy had been greatly improved, was in a rapid development in economy and a complex situation in security.Escaped from the tide of drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern countries, the DPRK survived tenaciously. Faced with increasing pressure from the Alliance of United States and South Korea and the Alliance of United States and Japan, Russia’s "one-sided" strategy to South Korea, and the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, the DPRK felt being threatened, it soon began to develop nuclear weapons in order to maintain its own power. The research and development of nuclear weapons is a threat to South Korea and the US troops in Northeast Asia, but at the same time, it also provided an excellent reason for the United States to intervene the affairs in Northeast Asia.US policy toward North Korea has gone through more than twenty years after the Cold War till now, during which the North Korean issue has been unresolved through twists and turns. This thesis selected the United States policy toward the DPRK during the Clinton administration as the content of the study, starting from the background the Clinton administration faced after the Cold War, then give description of the nuclear and missile issues, the North-South relations and a series of aid policy measures towards North Korea, on this basis, it makes an exploration of influential factors both in domestic and international level, at last, it has an evaluation on the Clinton policy toward North Korea and points out the fruit and deficiencies.The current US-DPRK relations and the nuclear issue seem to have reached an impasse. If the US government continues the current policy toward North Korea, it is likely to become a de facto nuclear weapon state, which will have a negative impact on the stability of the Peninsula and Northeast Asia peace. Through the study of the Clinton administration’s policy toward the DPRK, we can have a deeper grasp the DPRK’s intention of nuclear research and the crux of the nuclear issue on Korea Pen, we can also pick out something worthwhile for the US government to ponder in dealing with North Korea issues.