2014, Vol.29, No.2

The Journal of Northeast Asia Research 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.75

pISSN : 2005-4432
https://journal.kci.go.kr/inas

The reflection on Universality reveals the new desire for diversity. Despite the boundary of the nation state decreasing, the ethnic concept is still valid. Today, the debate about integration in a multi-cultural society will demand, not ethnic homogeneity, but the integration of solidarity is based on diversity and heterogeneity. And this phenomenon affects the perception of people about Korean unification. The change of the international situation, of the people’s awareness for unification and of the social structure is toward a Multi-Cultural society, because the integration policy in their lives became more important. As the apathy of the young generation on the part does not affect his life, and the sensitivity of the young generation on the part of safety and stability in their lives, they do not care about ideological issues. The new unification policy is not the way of overcoming the conflict of ideology but the way of communication and acceptance in the life. Therefore, the Korean unification policy should be offered the new way of integration in the multi-cultural society.

This study aims to derive policy directions in fostering the unification of the Korean Peninsula by comparative method of the relations between the unification and the external environment in the Three Kingdom period and the post-Three Kingdom period. One of the key factors which made Silla and Goryeo achieve unification is to pursue the Good Neighbor policy as well as build a favorable environment. The main parts of the Good Neighbor policy differed on the characteristics of the international system. Silla practiced the Good Neighbor policy towards the Tang Dynasty under the Tang Dynasty-centered unipolar system. This policy made Silla promote the military alliance with the Tang Dynasty and it led Silla to unify the Korean Peninsula. In contrast, under a multipolar system, Goryeo reunified the Korean Peninsula focusing on practicing the Good Neighbor policy toward countries within the Korean Peninsula. Recently, mutual cooperation and conflicts are coexisting in Northeast Asia, changing from the US-centered unipolar world order to a multipolar order. This study suggests that Korea needs to create an amicable international environment through promoting economic cooperation with China and Russia, while simultaneously maintaining the Korea-US alliance. And the Korean government especially has to practice a ‘trust-first’ policy for making significant progress on South-North Korean relations.

The first ROK army dispatch abroad executed 50 years ago in Vietnam. This was the turning point, not only the history of Korean army’s overseas footprint, but also in South Korea’s dynamic history of economic development. The policy of a certain country is not formatted or developed only according to a regime’s intention. Decision-making is built up through various elements that are caused by domestic and international factors. In this context, the ROK army dispatch to Vietnam is thought of as the result of a complete mixture of the Park Jung Hee administration’s judgements on its interests domestically and national interests internationally in the lens of the US-ROK relationship and alliance. The current situation is not that different from 50 years ago for South Korea. North Korea’s military threat still exists, the US and China’s relationship is unstable, and South Korea is still quite dependent on US for security. In this circumstance, South Korea could soon face a ‘crucial’ choice as it did in the Vietnam War era. Therefore, the ROK army dispatch to Vietnam 50 years ago and the South Korean government’s choice should be a good lesson on making a wise choice whether positively or negatively.