Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Introduction: Korea and the Great Powers in a Changing World
- Chapter 2 China and the Two Koreas
- Chapter 3 Russia and the Two Koreas
- Chapter 4 Japan and the Two Koreas
- Chapter 5 The United States and the Two Koreas
- Chapter 6 The Future of the Two Koreas
- References
- Index
Chapter 6 - The Future of the Two Koreas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 June 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Introduction: Korea and the Great Powers in a Changing World
- Chapter 2 China and the Two Koreas
- Chapter 3 Russia and the Two Koreas
- Chapter 4 Japan and the Two Koreas
- Chapter 5 The United States and the Two Koreas
- Chapter 6 The Future of the Two Koreas
- References
- Index
Summary
Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given, and transmitted from the past.
– Marx (1959: 320)It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
– Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)To think about Korean unification in the post–Cold War era is to encounter a double paradox. Perhaps at no time since the end of World War II, when Korea was liberated and divided, has the prospect of Korean unification seemed closer, yet never has it been more distant. On the one hand, it is the weaker North Korea far more than the stronger South Korea that holds a master key to shaping the future of the divided Korean peninsula. On the other hand, the future of North Korea itself – if it will have any future – largely depends on the support of outside powers, most important, South Korea, China, the United States, Japan, and Russia, in that order.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Two Koreas and the Great Powers , pp. 296 - 360Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006