Study On The Adjustment Of Russian Policy Toward Korean Peninsula After The Cold War

From the end of the Cold War to the beginning of the 21 st century,Russia’s policy on the Korean Peninsula experienced three adjustments,and showing three stages of changes: "attaching more importance to the South than the North","equalizing the distance between the North and the South",and "giving more attention to the North ".After the third adjustment,Russia’s policy on the Korean Peninsula has basically continued the status of "keeping the Korean Peninsula stable" until now.Focusing on the national interests,this paper tries to explain the internal logic of Russia’s policy on the peninsula by examining the changes in the order of Russia’s national interests on the peninsula during the three policy adjustments.As a part of Russia’s overall foreign strategy,the study of Russia’s peninsula policy is helpful for us to understand Russia’s diplomatic behavior.By means of literature analysis and historical analysis,this study studies Russia’s policy adjustment on the Korean Peninsula and its influencing factors from Yeltsin to Putin’s first term(1991-2004).To be specific,this study establishes an analytical framework based on the review of national interest-related theories,and sorts out the development process of Russia’s Korean Peninsula policy after the Cold War from the perspective of historical development.The course of policy adjustment is divided into three stages: the implementation of the policy of attaching importance to the South and ignoring the North(1991-1994),the implementation of the policy of equidistance between the North and the South(1994-2000),and the beginning of the policy of stabilizing the South on the North(2000-2004).The paper briefly introduces the changes of the relations between Russia and the countries on the peninsula during the period.Combining the theory of national interest with the practice of Russia’s policy adjustment on the peninsula,this paper explores the main factors that prompt Russia to adjust its policy on the peninsula,and summarizes the characteristics of the policy on this basis.This study finds that with the development of the international situation,the change of the situation on the peninsula,Russia’s strong demand for economic development and the choice of values,Russia’s focus on national interests on the peninsula is also different.Russia has gone through the stages of prioritizing economic interests based on ideology,prioritizing geopolitical interests and security interests,and again increasing the importance of economic interests.It is precisely around these changing interests that Russia has adopted different foreign policies on the Korean Peninsula.