3 - Changing Security Environments in Northeast Asia: A Korean View

Summary

GEOPOLITICAL FEATURES OF NORTHEAST ASIA

Although the countries constituting Northeast Asia are few, the region's security environment is very complicated. The following geopolitical elements complicate the security situation of the region:

1. • The existence of the world's only remaining divided state, North and South Korea;

2. • The existence of two states with nuclear capabilities — China and Russia;

3. • The military presence of another state with nuclear capabilities, the United States — which is allied to the Republic of Korea (hereafter cited as Korea or ROK) and Japan;

4. • The absence of official bilateral relations between North Korea and the United States, as well as between North Korea and Japan; and

5. • The presence of two vast semi-enclosed seas, causing various maritime disputes, including territorial ones.

With these geopolitical elements, security in the Northeast Asian region has long been characterized by the following three features.

First, there is a deep-rooted distrust and rivalry arising from the states' historical experiences with each other. This is reflected in the volatile relations between the two sets of major powers, namely China and Japan, and China and the United States.

Second, the region's political survival is not only dependent on each state's international autonomy and territorial integrity, but also the protection of its existing political system and survival of its incumbent government. This is one of the core security concerns for some of the states in the region, particularly North Korea and Taiwan.

Third, the formation of alliance and alignment has been a key security strategy for most of the Northeast Asian states. The security order created during the Cold War era was built on a complete set of bilateral alliances, with the United States as a maritime power and, less stably, the Soviet Union as a continental power. Given the strategic alliance emphasis to security, the area had been largely bipolar, and there were little horizontal linkages between alliance partners.