Advocacy for Aid to North Korea by South Korean NGOs : Agenda Framing and its Impact in Peacebuilding on the Korean Peninsula

Abstract

Using the analytical framework based on the constructivist approach, this paper focuses on norm grafting by the NGOs: especially the agenda framing which are exploited by NGOs to maximize norm grafting and the process of internalizing norms in the differing stages of state policy making as a final process of norm grafting. For a case study, this paper examines how South Korean NGOs framed the issue of humanitarian assistance to North Korea throughout the three administrations of Kim Young-Sam (1995-1997), Kim Dae-Jung (1998-2002) and Roh Moo-Hyun (2003-2007) and to what extent it affected changes in aid polity towards North Korea. The paper argues that two variables - the issue characteristics of humanitarian crisis in North Korea itself and South Korean NGOs' ability to reframe the issue timely and effectively - were important factors explaining South Korea's aid decision to North Korea from 1997 to 2007. Ironically the consecutive humanitarian crisis contributed to the establishment of a favorable operational environment for South Korean NGOs' advocacy of aid to North Korea. However, South Korean NGOs' capacity to frame the issue was a critical factor in changes of South Korean government and civil society's stance for aid to North Korea.