The classic national security concerns on the Korean peninsula—nuclear proliferation and the production, sale, and use of weapons of mass destruction—cannot be addressed without also considering the implications and interrelationship of the “human” security issues of food, poverty and, perhaps more controversially, freedom. East Asia and the world are more dangerous with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in possession of nuclear weapons. However, a comprehensive security analysis must identify many equally significant threats, such as the risk of a nuclear accident from the poorly managed North Korean nuclear energy sector and the potential for transborder crime committed by the country’s poverty-stricken citizens. This book shows that Korean hard and soft security issues are equally important, and that the former cannot be understood nor its dilemmas unraveled without a clear engagement of the latter. Reconstructing Korean Security tackles Korean security dilemmas from the perspective of the various international actors, not just from the viewpoint of the major protagonists (the DPRK and the United States). The book combines well-informed, acute, and professional analysis with recommendations for a comprehensive strategy of successful policy interventions in the multifaceted Korean security crisis.
