Inter-Korean Relations: The Yoon Administration in Historical Context

As South Korea pursues national objectives of security and prosperity, it must also contend with a third strategic imperative - the desire for unification - which complicates its domestic and foreign policymaking. This article illustrates and analyzes change and continuity in the relationship between the two Koreas, placing developments during the administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol in broader historical context. It demonstrates that over the course of South Korea's modern democratic history, each ROK president has offered his or her own approach to North Korea, based on what the president believes are to be the right priorities, sequencing, and processes for inter-Korean relations and on what s/he believes has and has not worked under previous administrations. These approaches, in turn, have combined with domestic political and military developments in North Korea and changing regional and international context to shape the ebb and flow of inter-Korean relations.