유럽통합의 경험과 남북연합에의 시사점

Abstract

This paper analyzes the process of the launch and development of the European Union, a representative example of the inter-state integration, using the concept of 'path dependence', and there are many historical and political differences between Europe and the Korean Peninsula. However, there are also common points of the inter-state integration method. This paper attempts to capture that point through the concept of path dependence. It is to think about the path of inter-Korean integration through the path-dependent process of European integration. European integration was fully established under the condition that the Cold War system was formed, and it is very different from the conditions of inter-Korean integration in that the ideology and system are cooperation among the same countries. However, the process of drawing cooperation through intense discussions and negotiations between various countries gives many implications for inter-Korean relations. European integration promoted economic integration, security integration, and political integration at the same time. However, the economic integration centering on ESCS was forced to choose, and security integration and political integration were delayed to a distant future. The same can happen in the path of inter-Korean integration, but if the level of trust and cooperation between the two Koreas increases, inter-Korean integration will appear differently from European integration. As the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula is resolved, economic and political integration can be quickly promoted to the level of the inter-Korean integration. The launch and development of the European Union gives another important implication to the inter-Korean integration because it showed that it is possible to create federal elements in the national confedration. In this context, it is possible to combine the unification plan of South Korea with the unification plan of North Korea, because it can move from the inter-Korean confedration stage to the basic federal stage through the inter-Korean Constitution. This paper suggests that if South Korea and North Korea do not insist on the ultimate unification plan, it can be realized. The two countries on the Korean Peninsula can coexist peacefully and cooperate with each other, and that can be the present state of unification.