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.