Arms Control in Korea: Issues for the 1990s

摘要

The paper argues that recent progress in the European arms reduction arena is infact the result of a rather unique combination of developments not likely to be replicated in other regions--barring certain unpredictable and highly significant developments. Moreover, the context in which arms control proceedings in Northeast Asia should be viewed cannot be divorced from the overall strategic environment, which, again, is quite different from the environment characterizing other military balances. We argue in this paper that unless we are to adopt as an objective 'arms control for its own sake,' we ought to proceed very cautiously, mindful of the total strategic environment. In other words, it would be unwise to attempt any simplistic extrapolation from the recent history of arms limitation efforts in other regions and under other circumstances to the unique and demanding security problems of Northeast Asia.