Untying the “Gordian Knot”?

Abstract

Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun initiated a major desecuritizing approach to the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto maritime border between North and South Korea. What brought President Roh to choose the initiative that might weaken South Korea’s national security and embolden its “main enemy” North Korea? What implications does Roh’s new approach have for the Northeast Asian regional security? In this study I answer these questions by using the Copenhagen School’s Regional Security Complex (RSC) theory. This study emphasizes the importance of domestic political factors in desecuritizing traditional threats, which ultimately can contribute to the evolution of RSC. President Roh’s approach to the NLL issue was just a starting point; the efforts for desecuritizing Cold War-type threats will be revived, expediting the evolution of the Northeast Asian RSC.