냉전 시기 소련-북한의 비대칭동맹과 북한의 자주외교

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reveal the critical factor in bilateral relations during the Cold War, which is essential for evaluating the continuity and change in Soviet(Russia)-North Korea relations. During the Cold War, the Soviet-North Korean relations were an asymmetric alliance between one Eurasian superpower that used a global strategy from an international political standpoint and one weaker state in Northeast Asia. The asymmetric alliance is often characterized by the superpower offering security and the weaker state's sovereignty being limited in return. However, the Soviet influence, as guardian of the formation of the North Korean state system and in its international leadership role with socialist countries, was not just one-sided with North Korea. Under socialist international ideology, superficial agreement between two countries so-called 'Brotherhood', these two countries have experienced serious differences in perceptions and conflicts of interest in evaluating the situation on the Korean peninsula and in the line of their foreign policies. The Soviet Union acknowledged that two sovereign states existed on the Korean peninsula after the Korean War, while North Korea's Kim Il-sung regime made the reunification a priority. In the midst of said conflicts and in addition the Soviet-China disputes, North Korea attempted over time to implement its policies as much as possible through 'independent diplomacy'. While the Soviet Union recognized its limitation to influence to North Korea, the Soviet had tried to control North Korea to take a more realistic approach to the Korean peninsula. In this context, we consider the Soviet-North Korean relations during the Cold War as a special transformation of the asymmetric alliance and examine their origins, factors, and characteristics.