North Korea's Nuclear and Human Rights Conundrum: Implications for South Korea's Unification Goal

Abstract

North Korea's continued commitment to its nuclear weapons program and its concurrent violation of the basic norms of human rights underscores a particularly intractable stalemate insofar as South Korea's goal of unification is concerned. The simple truth is that the topic of unification will invariably entail some form of the South's absorption of the North. Thus, any meaningful discussion on the goal of Korean unification has to consider the conditions of the international environment that would prove most conducive to a situation that would lead to the collapse of the regime in the North. So what will it take to alter the conditions influencing China's and other regional powers' decision‐making to support a Seoul‐led unification scenario? The main goal of the article is to explore these factors that negatively affect the regime's survival chances. The present moment marks a rare opportunity for Seoul to “co‐opt” not only Beijing, but also Moscow and Tokyo, into adopting its dual strategy of reciprocal diplomatic engagement on the one hand, and stronger enforcement of sanctions on the other. If the conditions align as a result of Seoul's successful co‐option of the concerned powers, the end‐result could achieve this outcome – a peaceful unification on Seoul's terms.