The disparity between South Korea's engagement and security policies towards North Korea: The realist-liberal pendulum

Since the beginning of the Sunshine Policy, South Korea has pursued a flexible and moderate engagement and economic policy towards North Korea, even at the cost of increased tensions with Washington. But while South Korea's policy on inter-Korean relations has undergone a fundamental change, its security policy continues to be rather conservative, firmly grounded in Cold War parameters. This disparity between South Korea's foreign and security policies forms the theme of this paper. The paper argues that the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun era should be regarded as a hedging period during which South Korea has sought to change the North's behaviour and interests, while at the same time it has continued with its conservative security policy. It concludes that unless North Korean relations with South Korea and with other regional states, including security relations, undergo some fundamental transformation, the disparity between South Korea's engagement and security policies will continue.