Conflict or convergence: the inter-state relations between the two Koreas in the post-Cold War (1991-2001)

• Grant number: 18/12321-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal researcher: Eduardo Mei
• Grantee: Rafaela Schuindt Santos
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research is centered on the relationship between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the period between the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1991) and the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in the United States of America (2001). The general objective is to understand the diplomatic relations of the Korean peninsula in the mentioned period. In addition, it has specific objectives: to analyze the influence of the fall of the USSR in the Korean situation, to explore the factors that contributed to the approach and, later, to the inter-Korean diplomatic distance and in addition to analyzing the role of the US and China in this relationship. The research is based on historical, bibliographical and documentary analysis, based on sources such as scientific and journalistic articles, international agreements and declarations, theses, dissertations and books pertinent to the theme. It is considered that the collapse of the USSR, the North Korean quest for economic and energy aid and the South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's Sunshine Policy were factors that influenced South Korea and North Korea's diplomatic rapprochement during the 90's. However, it is presumed that such a scenario of approximation was demobilized with the development of the North Korean nuclear program in the late 1990s and with the policy of the US government of George W. Bush, who adopted an aggressive stance on Korea, in addition to framing North Korea on the "axis of evil" in his speech in 2002. (AU)