Russian Strategic Thinking toward North and South Korea

Abstract

When we consider strategic thinking in Russia, we should be aware of three levels: (1) the political authorities of the country; (2) the diplomatic, military, and other bureaucratic elites; and (3) scholars, specialists on Korea and, more broadly, on Asian and global problems. The 1980s were the critical moment of transformation in Moscow toward the Korean peninsula. Roughly half of this study is devoted to the Putin period, since this offers the timeliest insight into where strategic thinking is heading after the transitional decade of the 1990s.