The purpose of this thesis is to derive the factors that enabled the Park Geun-hye government of Korea to obtain a better-than-expected negotiation result in the wartime OPCON transition negotiation with the powerful US government.
The Park Geun-hye...
The purpose of this thesis is to derive the factors that enabled the Park Geun-hye government of Korea to obtain a better-than-expected negotiation result in the wartime OPCON transition negotiation with the powerful US government.
The Park Geun-hye administration overturned the agreement between the Lee Myung-bak administration and the Obama administration of the United States to postpone the wartime OPCON transition by 2015, and even under unfavorable circumstances that required a re-postponement, managed to draw out a new type of wartime OPCON transition based on conditions. This was a successful negotiation in terms of being able to prepare for the wartime OPCON transition longer than the several-year delay initially expected by the Park Geun-hye administration in a way that could be postponed indefinitely until conditions were met.
As a result of analyzing the Park Geun-hye administration’s negotiation method by applying Habib's asymmetric negotiation theory, it was found that the outcome of negotiations was determined by issue-specific structural power(commitment, alternatives, control) rather than aggregate structural power(national power). Although the Park Geun-hye administration was inferior in terms of aggregate structural power compared to the powerful US Obama administration, it was able to obtain more-than-expected negotiation results reversing the inferior negotiating power by strengthening the issue-specific structural power during the negotiation process.
The key factors that enabled the Korean government to reverse its negotiating power, which was initially weak, are as follows. First, it changed the power of negotiation with an effective negotiation tactic. With the creative negotiation agenda of ‘Conditions-based Wartime OPCON Transition,’ it strengthened its power of negotiation by creating a new alternative that the Korean government did not have. The ROK Ministry of National Defense, which was well prepared in advance, was able to get the initiative in the negotiations through a bottom-up negotiation method that proceeded step by step starting from working-level, high-level, ministerial-level, and finally ROK and US leaders. Through various means of negotiations, such as promises, compensation, and concessions, the control of the Korean government was able to improve to a level equal to that of the US government, making the overall negotiation power superior. For example, the South Korean government was given the promise to be able to secure wartime OPCON transition core military capabilities at an early stage, including capabilities to respond to North Korean nuclear and missile attacks. Compensation was also made to determine the purchase of advanced weapons from the United States in connection with the ROK military's combat power reinforcement plan. In addition, the timing of the relocation of the CFC headquarters and ancillary facilities in Yongsan was postponed, and the 210th Artillery Brigade of the US 2nd Infantry Division was conceded to remain in Dongducheon.
Second, it made good use of the negotiation environment to have a favorable influence on the Korean government. The Korean government used the negotiating environment well in conjunction with negotiation tactics to strengthen its own control and weaken the control of the US government. The negotiating environment that influenced the negotiations included the rise of China, the promotion of the ‘Asia Rebalancing Policy’ by the United States, the North Korean nuclear missile threat and military provocations, the launch of the Park Geun-hye government and the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the ROK-US alliance.
On the other hand, as the negotiations between the ROK and US governments progressed, the intentions of US were analyzed as follows. First, the US government engaged in negotiations with an emphasis on stabilizing the Korean Peninsula and strengthening the ROK-US alliance. Second, the US government expected to be able to demand and control the expansion of capabilities and roles of the ROK military to meet the OPCON transition conditions. Third, they expected that more opportunities to sell US-made advanced weapons would be created in order to secure the ability of the Korean military to meet the conditions. Fourth, they required a strengthened alliance between South Korea, the US, and Japan in response to the rise of China. Fifth, the United States did not prefer to place US and UN forces under the operational control of the ROK commander.
The ‘Conditions-based Wartime OPCON Transition’ obtained as a result of negotiations by the Park Geun-hye government can be evaluated as a successful negotiation that achieved results that exceeded initial expectations. However, it nevertheless has limitations that leave room for further negotiations due to the ambiguity of the three transition conditions agreed upon by the ROK and the US. In 2017, the Moon Jae-in government took office and continued follow-up negotiations on the ‘Conditions-based Wartime OPCON Transition’ in order to establish a roadmap that satisfies the transition condition, but it is significant that no agreement was reached in the end. As much as the ROK and the U.S. reached an agreement from a ‘Time-based Wartime OPCON Transition’ to a ‘Conditions-based Wartime OPCON Transition,’ efforts to develop specific standards for transition conditions and a system that can certify them are important.
In the future, the case analysis of this thesis will be a useful framework for the Korean government to establish an effective negotiation strategy and analyze the negotiation results in asymmetric negotiations with the US, including the ‘Conditions-based Wartime OPCON Transition’, which has a lot of room for additional negotiations.