This book departs from existing studies by focusing on the impact of international influences on the society, culture, and language of both North and South Korea. Since President Kim Young Sam’s segyehwa drive of the mid-1990s, South Korea has become a model for successful globalization. In contrast, North Korea is commonly considered one of the least internationally integrated countries. This characterization fails to account for the reality of the two Koreas and their global engagements. The opening essay situates the chapters by highlighting some significant contrasts and commonalities between the experiences of North and South Korea’s history of engagement with the world beyond the Peninsula. The chapters explore both the longer-term historical influence of Korea’s international contacts as well as specific Korean cultural, linguistic, and social developments that have occurred since the 1990s demise of the global Cold War and greater international integration.

This “excellent study of foreign policy-making” explores the changing nature of US-Korea relations since 1948 (David Hundt, Political Studies Review). In A Troubled Peace, Professor Chae-Jin Lee examines the evolution of U.S. policy toward South and North Korea beginning in the mid-twentieth century, when rival regimes were installed on the Korean peninsula. He presents an enlightening analysis of the goals the United States has sought for Korea, how these goals have been articulated, and the methods used to implement them. Drawing on declassified diplomatic documents; primary materials in English, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese; and extensive interviews with American and Korean officials, Lee sheds light on critical factors that have affected U.S. policy: the functions of U.S. security policy in Korea, the role of the United States in South Korean democratization, President Clinton’s policy of constructive engagement toward North Korea, President Bush’s hegemonic policy toward North Korea, and the hexagonal linkages among the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and the two Koreas. Discussing the concepts of containment, deterrence, engagement, preemption, and appeasement, Lee’s balanced approach reveals the frustrations of all players in their attempts to arrive at a modicum of coexistence. His objective, comprehensive, and definitive study reveals a dynamic—and incredibly complex—series of relationships underpinning a troubled and tenuous peace.

This title addresses the fragility of the political, economic, and military balance within the two Koreas and Northeast Asia. The chapters analyze the factors that gave rise to the persisting cold war on the Korean peninsula as well as the changing relationships with the US and other powers.

While the Cold War is over in the rest of the world, a potentially deadly confrontation continues to grow on the bitterly divided peninsula of Korea, where two of the world's largest and most powerful armies - along with 37,000 US troops - face each other on hair-trigger alert across the demilitarized zone, ready to resume fighting on a moment's notice. This family quarrel, initiated and abetted by the great powers of the US, Japan, Russia and China, is one of the epochal struggles of modern times. But while much has been written about the war that began it all, few understand the Koreas of today. For twenty years Don Oberdorfer has had unique access to the key people who have controlled the events and decisions that shape the contemporary Koreas. His book is the only one to explain the Korean history as well as just what political and economic crises loom on the horizon.

This book explores Korea's place in relation to China, Japan, Russia, and the United States.