1990년대 이후 남북 군사분야 회담 연구: 패턴과 정향

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the dynamics of South-North military talks in the post Cold War era from 1990 up to present. For these purposes, main emphasis is given to analyses on the backgrounds, the characteristics of process and representatives of the military talks, the characteristics of media reporting, and finally finding out some policy considerations for the policy of South Korea. The military talks can be characterized as the proclamatory agreements after the high-level talk in 1990, working-level talks after the first South-North summit talks in 2000 and then, the exclusive negotiations on military agendas after the general-level talk in 2004. The agenda of South-North military talks has not continued during the given period. In the years of 2000s’, the agreed agendas proposed by South Korea could not have been discussed on the actual tables, and the talks have influenced by external factors. The troubles in the process of talks have originated from the fundamentally different stands of South and North Korea, the observance of former agreements, and the negotiation strategies of North Korea both in 1990s’ and 2000s’. The South Korean representatives in 2000s’ have been changed by the new assignment of personnels in charge or the agendas of talks, while North Korea has appointed new representatives by the generational shifts. Additionally, South Korea has composed the representatives on the level of talks, but those of North Korea who work in small numbers have repeatedly appeared both in the general-level talks and the working-level talks. According to media reports, North Korea considered South Korea’s negotiation attitude as ‘saving face-ism’, while South Korea judged that intentionally North Korea delayed or broke down the talks. Upon these analyses, South Korea is expected to seek regularizing and reorganizing of military talks, to set the priority of goals in talks, to search the strategies which will enable agendas to come up in due order and to balance among them, and to prepare the negotiations which keep agendas themselves from being new cards on the negotiating table.