Arms Control and Great-power Interests in the Korean Peninsula

Abstract

S 275 external pressures. In consequence, the use of force to reunify Korea has now probably been all but ruled out. While North Korea is looking for new options to break out of what has clearly become an untenable position, some analysts have concluded that this may prompt North Korea to develop nuclear weapons. Such a course may be part of the hidden agenda of unknown elements in North Korea. If confirmed, it would be very destabilizing for the region. There is therefore strong incentive for the USSR, the US, China and Japan to work together to solve the problem of North Korea’s insecurity. The aim of other regional countries, including Australia, should be to recognize North Korea’s predicament, albeit a largely self-created one, and work to encourage stability and transparency on the Korean peninsula while simultaneously encouraging confidence in Pyongyang about the benefits of change and of joining the rest of the Asia-Pacific community. This will be difficult in view of the rigidities that have been built into North Korean politics over the last 40 years. There would however appear to be few alternatives other than to work with the existing leadership in Pyongyang.