중국 대 북한 핵 프로그램 정책 : 무인승차자부터 통제자까지?

Abstract

This study analyses China’s policy towards North Korea’s nuclear weapons program by using the concepts of free rider, mediator, controller, and vetoer. Most scholars have argued that China has played a more and more important role in controlling North Korea’s nuclear problem. However, I argue that China’s policy towards North Korea has never changed; it has continued acting as a free rider or a mediator and has never acted as a controller. Instead, China has vetoed the international community, blocking any attempt to exert pressure on North Korea or take military measures against it. This is because, in order to maximize its national interests, China’s first priority towards North Korea is not the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but the maintenance of stability in the region and the preservation of North Korean regime. Therefore, this paper concludes that South Korea and the United States should not expect China to resolve the North Korea’s nuclear weapons problems, since China will continue to act as a vetoer and refuse to be a controller.