CIAO DATE: 01/2009
Volume: 3, Issue: 1
Spring / Summer 1999
Bruce William Bennett
It is an all-too-familiar pattern for military forces. Lacking sufficient funds to finance across-the-board military modernization, the country appears to pursue only selective modernization and some force evolution. The majority of military equipment is therefore allowed to slip into an antiquated state. The same financial constraints limit force readiness, especially reducing the combat training essential for the force should it be suddenly thrust into wartime operations. This reduction is then exacerbated by a diversion of the force into peacetime assignments that bear little resemblance to its wartime missions. Commentators wonder whether these military forces have become hollow, with significantly reduced combat capabilities. While many military forces today can be described in these terms, the focus of this paper is on the North Korean military. Has the lack of modernization and the degradation in North Korean readiness really eroded the North Korean threat? Or have selected North Korean military developments led to an enhanced threat? What can be expected in the future?
Prospects for Northeast Asian Multilateral Security Cooperation (PDF)
Ralph A. Cossa
A broad variety of multilateral security dialogue mechanisms has emerged in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years. These efforts at building trust and confidence, both at the official and at the nongovernmental or so-called "track two" level, have the potential for enhancing Northeast Asian regional security. All Northeast Asian nations express support for such efforts. The current trend toward multilateralism is also generally consistent with U.S. foreign policy objectives in Asia, albeit as an important complement to America's bilateral security arrangements (which remain the foundation of U.S. security policy in Asia).
Old Wine in New Bottles: The Pentagon's East Asia Security Strategy Report (PDF)
Doug Bandow
To contain Soviet-led communism and, secondarily, to prevent a militarily resurgent Japan, Washington established a network of alliances, bases, and deployments throughout East Asia after World War II. By the 1990s the Soviet Union had imploded, China had become a reasonably restrained international player, and other communist states had lost their ideological edge. At the same time, the noncommunist nations had leaped ahead economically. Despite such momentous developments, however, U.S. policy remains fundamentally the same.
Korea and Japanese Security (PDF)
C.S. Eliot Kang
The Korean peninsula is crucial to Japanese security. Currently, the Japan-United States alliance is being reinvigorated to meet the continuing threat posed by North Korea as well as new challenges in the post-cold war era. The recently announced new defense cooperation guidelines outline the support the Japanese will extend to U.S. forces during peacetime, during an armed attack on Japan, and in emergencies "in areas surrounding Japan." In order to avoid unduly alarming China and to win public acceptance of the reformulation of the alliance in the absence of the kind of mortal threat once posed by the Soviet Union, the continuing danger posed by North Korea has been underlined. Yet, should the North Korean threat disappear, justifying the Japan-U.S. alliance will be that much more difficult. To forestall any danger of unraveling of the alliance, Japan must work with South Korea to formulate a new vision of the security relationship between Seoul and Tokyo that more closely integrates their common interests with those of their mutual ally, the United States.
Chinese Foreign Policy and the Korean Peninsula (PDF)
Il-Keun Park
China faces on its east the Tumen River and the Western Sea, located in the north and the west of Korea, respectively. China's Shandong Province is only 190 miles across the Western Sea from Korea. Chinese culture has affected Asian nations for 2,000 years, with Korea serving as a geostrategic intersection linking continental with maritime countries, and allowing the transmission of Chinese ideas. Thus, we can say that China has had a special relationship with Korea.
China's Economy: Reform and Perspectives (PDF)
Gregory C. Chow
is now just over twenty years since China initiated its economic reform in 1978. Since then its average rate of growth of GDP has been a phenomenal 9.5 percent per year. This essay reviews the reform process, discusses the impact of the current Asian financial crisis, and attempts to assess the prospects of China's economy in the future.
Current Status of Software Research and Development in North Korea (PDF)
Chan-Mo Park
The twenty-first century will be characterized by informatization, globalization, and openness. In particular, the rapid development of the Internet is playing a great role in globalization, in that information flows on it across national boundaries, without time or content constraints.
It is anticipated that North Korea, riding this world-wide tide, will open its tightly closed doors, and that peaceful reunification, strongly desired by the 70 million Korean people, will be achieved sometime in the future.
Eiii Hang Shin, Moon-Gi Suh
This study examines the relationship between structural characteristics of business firms and their effectiveness in South Korea, using multivariate regression analysis. The objective is to analyze the relationships between organizational characteristics and financial structure. This study is not concerned with individual-level variables (for example, interaction patterns and role conflict) or psychological variables (motivation, individual stress), although these are also important aspects of organizations. The view of organizations in the present study is strongly influenced by the work of scholars who argue that organizations are characterized by structural relationships among interdependent attributes.
What Is KEDO? (PDF)
Desaix Anderson
The Korean peninsula, especially the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that splits it in two, is one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. President Clinton called it "one of the scariest places on earth." In addition to the troops massed on the DMZ, the fragility of Northeast Asian security is underscored by North Korea's military and technological capability. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), North Korea, has one of world's largest armies, a million men, with artillery capable of bombarding Seoul. In August 1998, the DPRK launched a Taepodong I missile, which has the range to hit anywhere in South Korea or Japan. With further development, such missiles could reach Alaska, Hawaii, or even the continental United States.
These capabilities make North Korea a threat in the eyes of Japan, South Korea, and the United States. China also views the DPRK as a key facet of the Northeast Asian security situation.
All this attention given to North Korea, however, has not succeeded in resolving for outside observers questions about the country's predictability. At times, the North has seemed open to increased contact with the outside world; at others, it has appeared to be following a strategy of dangerous brinkmanship and belligerence, at extremely high stakes.