Free trade advocates had stood by international effect of trade for long with the development of liberalism. However, it grabbed far little attention and was not as dominant as realism in the international politics. The issue is recently being raised ...
Free trade advocates had stood by international effect of trade for long with the development of liberalism. However, it grabbed far little attention and was not as dominant as realism in the international politics. The issue is recently being raised again as a research subject amid changes in international environment, but it has yet to be systematically and thoroughly studied. Interestingly, opposite arguments are emerging at the same time. For instance, international trade brings both positive and negative aspects such as strengthened consolidation and cooperation between countries due to growing economic interdependency by expanded trade and increasing trade conflicts or frictions caused by trade balance and international division of labor, etc. The idea that links between trade and cross-border relations is not new. Classical liberalists ranging from Montesquieu and Adam Smith to John Stuart Mill emphasized that increasing international trade would restrain and reduce conflicts, and rather, would act as an incentive for mutual cooperation and economic benefits.
Following precedent researches on international trade effect, empirical analysis on inter-Korean economic cooperation and casual relationship between trade and conflict is a valuable study that will provide an answer to the question whether the cooperation is positive or negative in reducing bilateral conflicts. Between North and South Korea, many projects have been implemented since bilateral cooperative ties were forged in 1989. As a matter of fact, inter-korean economic cooperation was used as a political or economic means from the perspective of early classical scholars on interrelation between politics and economy. Especially, when North Korean nuclear weapons became an issue after 1990s, skepticism on inter-Korean economic cooperation came to the front. It is a clear motive to conduct this analysis to find evidence or counterevidence of such skepticism.
According to regression analysis, commercial transactions have contributed to reducing inter-Korean conflicts more than non-commercial transactions. Out of commercial transactions such as general trade, processing of brought-in materials, Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mt. Kumgang tourism, general trade and processing of brought-in materials are contributing factors to reducing conflicts, and in particular, processing of brought-in materials is a great contributor to restraining conflicts. This shows that Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mt. Kumgang tourism were not effective deterrents of inter-Korean conflicts. In the correlation between non-commercial transaction and conflict, government support works much better than private sector’s help. There has been clear evidence that North Korea is reluctant to receive support from the private sector including NGOs. When it comes to the U.S. aid to North Korea that includes food, oil including KEDO, medicines and clothes, food is considered as an influential contributing factor to conflict reduction but has not been positive in reality. This means that North Korea sees South Korea and the U.S. separately on the negotiation table.
This analysis empirically shows North Korea’s view on inter-korean economic cooperation. In particular, North Korea still seems to be concerned over changes in its regime. Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mt. Kumgang tourism that would have brought economic benefits to the North were not actually effective in conflict prevention and North Korea is still dependant on cooperation with China for its economy. It may require South Korea to have a new perspective on two Koreas' economic cooperation. Rather than one-way aid or isolation, long-term and consistent policy will be crucial. So far, South Korea has focused on managing territory division for its policy on North Korea but now should reconsider inter-Korean economic cooperative projects from a premise of unification preparation. Furthermore, amid the changes in North Korea where information sharing is getting fast and market power is getting bigger, North Korea’s regime and its people’s autonomy could possibly collide. Under these circumstances, multilateral measures in response to changes in North Korean regime should be developed. Kaesong Industrial Complex, which does not have positive impact on conflict reduction can pursue changes and set a new paradigm for inter-Korean economic cooperation. Such efforts will bring strategic flexibility to the cooperation and will take one step further toward re-establishing a policy on North Korea.
As this study shows that inter-korean economic cooperation policies have failed to release tension and bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, it could be a right policy that redirects relationship with North Korea and proactively leads North Korea to transformation and unification. For instance, it can focus on policy effectiveness and consistence, strengthened reciprocity, efforts to national consolidation and North Koreans’human rights improvement. To implement such policies that lead the transformation of North Korea, we need to build consensus from people and develop strategic cooperative relationship with major nations. Especially, diverse policies should be established through diplomatic channels to reinforce diplomatic ties with China, one of G2 that will ultimately have clout needed to change North Korea.
In conclusion, 5,288 cases of data in total from January 1995 to August 2008 were collected and made as coordinated COPDAB to prove the model of this study. In the process of standardization of the contributing factors for a qualitative study, there was ambiguity in the classification of what have been observed. This may be because of difficulties in coping with the limit which comes from the prediction of parameter by measured value, which is common in statistics. I hope that, with the exclusion of the limit, the study on correlation between inter-korean economic cooperation and conflict as a political effect becomes a good example for upcoming studies on inter-Korean relations. And I will leave political effect of more multilateral economic cooperation as a future research subject.