중국의 “책임대국” 외교와 북핵문제

Abstract

This study analyzes China's recognition of and response to the North Korean nuclear issue on the basis of the Chinese “responsible power” diplomacy, and attempts to understand its strategic intent by examining the relationship between the six-party talks and the Northeast Asian security system China is mapping out.  Since October 2002 when the second nuclear crisis occurred, China has promoted six-party talks in Beijing for a peaceful solution. However, due to North Korea's rocket firing in April 2009 and the second nuclear test that followed in May 2009, six-party talks have not occurred since December 2008. To address this phase, China is trying to resume the six-party talks which is shown through China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's visit to North Korea in October 2009, along with a visit to China from North Korea's leader, Kim Jung Il, in May 2010. Meanwhile, the ‘Cheonan ham’ incident occurred in March 2010 and the South Korean government accused North Korea of firing the torpedo. Because of this, inter-Korean relations deteriorated rapidly, and the United States, Japan and other Western countries are showing a strong stance against North Korea. Accordingly, the situation surrounding the Korean peninsula has been escalating tensions, creating difficulties in resuming the six-party talks. At the same time China's “responsibility as a superpower” has been expected.   China's policy of the Korean peninsula has been studied frequently in Korea, but there are few studies on the six-party talks and the Northeast Asian multilateral security system. This study makes use of the recent research results and materials in China that have not been found in the previous studies, and also refers to the research that has been done in Korea, Japan, the United States, etc.