The Korean Arms Race

TODAY NORTHEAST ASIA is probably facing the most crucial turning point in international politics since the end of World War II. Rapidly expanding transactions between China and Japan, the strengthening of politico-economic ties between Beijing and Washington following the establishment of a formal diplomatic relationship, the deepening of the Sino-Soviet rift especially surrounding the issues of China's conflict with Vietnam, the worsening of the U.S.-Soviet relationship in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the political uncertainties in South Korea following the assassination of President Park and their implications for the superpower involvement in the Korean peninsula-all of these factors clearly illustrate the changing nature of the quadrilineal power balance among China, Japan, the U.S., and the Soviet Union. Even a cursory look at the trend of current events in the international relations of Northeast Asia enables one to make the following observations about the possible impacts of these new developments. First, Japan's policy of maintaining an equal distance between Moscow and Beijing apparently came to an end with the conclusion of the SinoJapanese treaty of peace and friendship in 1978. As a result, the Soviet interest in neutralizing Japan was dealt a severe blow. The Soviet proposal for an Asian collective security system no longer seems feasible because of the ostensibly anti-hegemonistic coalition of Japan and

Arms race · Development economics · Economics · International relations · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Race (biology · Sociology · Gender Studies · Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies · Law

• Political Economy of the Arms Race in Korea

  Tong Whan Park•Asian Survey•1986

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• Arms imports as an action‐reaction process

  Alex Mintz•International Interactions•1986

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