Peace and Unification of the Korean Peninsula Seen from a Utilitarian Rational Conservative Perspective: Beyond the Twenty-First-Century Version of the "Conquer-the-North" Stance

Abstract

Today on the Korean peninsula, ideas that are very similar to seventeenth-century views on loyalty to Ming and conquering the northern barbarians are rampant to the extent of deja vu. Joseon's insistence on loyalty to Ming and the "conquer-the-north" policy in the seventeenth century closed opportunities for domestic reform and led to the collapse of the nation. The twenty-first-century version of the "conquer-the-north" stance and anti-North policy are very likely to contribute to the conflict between the United States and China on the peninsula as well as to the hostile confrontation between the two Koreas, which would only result in damaging the lives of South Korean people. Given this, it is vital to widen the areas in which the interests of the South Korea-United States-Japan bloc and the North Korea-China bloc overlap. When the peninsula becomes a place where economic interest relations of various nations are intertwined, North Korea cannot but move to a phase of disarmament and tread the road to change.