INCONSISTENCY OR FLEXIBILITY? THE KIM YOUNG SAM GOVERNMENT'S NORTH KOREA POLICY AND ITS DOMESTIC VARIANTS
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This article deals with domestic sources of the Kim Young Sam (KYS) government's North Korea policy. The main argument is that the inconsistency of KYS's North Korea policy, which often became the target of domestic criticisms, was the result of KYS's effort to flexibly reflect public opinion toward North Korea and unification issues. It was amusing to see how major shifts of KYS's North Korea policy took place before or after elections. Especially, the first vessel carrying a rice donation to North Korea started for Chongjin two days before the local election. The Four Party Talks proposal in 1996 was made five days after the general election. There may be various reasons, however, domestic variants offer reasonable explanations. Most important is the tendency to utilize North korea policy as a campaign tool. With hard line policy toward North Korea, the ruling party won and the opposite was true with soft line policy. The inconsistency of KYS's North Korea policy also attributes to South Korea's public opinion. Public opinion toward North Korea and unification affairs appeared to vary according to generation and issues. Political obsession to make historic achievements on unification affiars in addition to KYS's personal character play important roles in the making of the KYS government's North Korea policy.
Abstract
This article deals with domestic sources of the Kim Young Sam (KYS) government's North Korea policy. The main argument is that the inconsistency of KYS's North Korea policy, which often became the target of domestic criticisms, was the result of KYS's effort to flexibly reflect public opinion toward North Korea and unification issues. It was amusing to see how major shifts of KYS's North Korea policy took place before or after elections. Especially, the first vessel carrying a rice donation to North Korea started for Chongjin two days before the local election. The Four Party Talks proposal in 1996 was made five days after the general election. There may be various reasons, however, domestic variants offer reasonable explanations. Most important is the tendency to utilize North korea policy as a campaign tool. With hard line policy toward North Korea, the ruling party won and the opposite was true with soft line policy. The inconsistency of KYS's North Korea policy also attributes to South Korea's public opinion. Public opinion toward North Korea and unification affairs appeared to vary according to generation and issues. Political obsession to make historic achievements on unification affiars in addition to KYS's personal character play important roles in the making of the KYS government's North Korea policy.