Korea Approaches Reunification

Carefully assembling a variety of economic and demographic data, this volume contrasts South and North Korean economic and social development and advances several hypotheses about the size of North Korea's military forces and other aspects of North Korea's veiled society. In a concluding chapter, the author argues that the paramount need is to prevent war on the peninsula, and he strongly supports the deterrence policy, including U.S.-Republic of Korea security ties. But Eberstadt also calls attention to several problems in the security arrangement. First, South Korea should fully share its intelligence about North Korea with the United States rather than continuing its selective policy. Second, South Korea needs to provide for more of its own protection. And finally, Seoul should stop blaming the United States for policies it favors privately but is unwilling to embrace officially, which fans anti-Americanism in the South. The author also argues that South Korea should do much more to establish a genuine rule of law, including provisions to protect Western business. He cites several recent studies concluding that, despite legal reforms in recent years, foreign corporations in Korea are subject to government-enforced restrictions, sanctions, and punishments with no basis in written statute.