Korea 2011: Politics, Economy and Society Korea 2011: Politics, Economy and Society Volume 5 Korea Yearbook Edited by Rüdiger Frank James E. Hoare Patrick Köllner Susan Pares Associate Editors: Charles Armstrong, Stephen Epstein, Moon Chung-in and Park Sung-hoon LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 This work was supported by the Academy of Korean Studies (publication grant AKS-2011-P-01). This book is printed on acid-free paper. ISSN 1875-0273 ISBN 978 90 04 21818 5 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. 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CONTENTS Preface ...............................................................................................xiii List of Refereed Articles Published since 2007....................................1 South Korea 1 Politics and foreign relations....................................................1 2 Economy...................................................................................1 3 Society......................................................................................2 North Korea 1 Politics and foreign relations....................................................3 2 Economy...................................................................................3 3 Society......................................................................................3 The Two Koreas: Connections and Comparisons ...........................4 Chronology of Events in the Korean Peninsula 2010...........................5 South Korea.....................................................................................5 North Korea.....................................................................................8 Inter-Korean Relations and Six Party Talks ..................................12 South Korea in 2010: Domestic Politics and the Economy................19 Patrick Köllner 1 Introduction ............................................................................19 2 Reforming the judiciary: no room for a bipartisan approach?...............................................................20 3 Parliament rejects revised Sejong city plan, and other municipal affairs.....................................................................22 4 GNP suffers setback in local elections: main parties pick new leaders.....................................................................24 5 Lee Myung-bak’s persistent personnel problems...................27 6 Regular but hardly orderly: the National Assembly session ..29 7 South Korea’s economy in 2010: the big picture ...................31 8 Equality issues come to the fore, again ..................................34 9 The China factor in the ROK economy and free trade...........35 10 Nuclear ambitions ..................................................................37 vi CONTENTS North Korea in 2010: Domestic Developments and the Economy.....39 Rüdiger Frank 1 Introduction ............................................................................39 2 The 2010 joint New Year editorial.........................................40 2.1 Key topic: Improvement of the people’s standard of living...40 2.2 Ideology..................................................................................41 2.3 The leader(s)...........................................................................42 2.4 North Korea’s ‘normalisation’ ...............................................44 3 The annual parliamentary session ..........................................45 3.1 Overview ................................................................................45 3.2 Budget report..........................................................................45 3.3 The work of the cabinet..........................................................47 4 The KWP conference .............................................................48 4.1 The facts .................................................................................48 4.2 Analysis..................................................................................51 5 Other events............................................................................54 5.1 Upgrade of the Special Economic Zone in Rasǂn..................54 5.2 State Development Bank and Taepung Investment Group ....55 5.3 Other developments................................................................55 Relations Between the Two Koreas in 2010.......................................59 Sabine Burghart Introduction ...................................................................................59 1 Managing a crisis: the impact of Cheonan and Yeonpyeong ...........................................................................59 2 Limitations of Lee Myung-bak’s self-defined pragmatism....63 3 Kaesǂng Industrial Complex: troubled symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation?...................................................65 4 Humanitarian aid: reduced to a symbolic gesture ..................67 5 Other developments................................................................68 6 Outlook...................................................................................70 Foreign Relations of the Two Koreas in 2010....................................71 James E. Hoare Introduction ...................................................................................71 1 Republic of Korea ..................................................................71 1.1 Relations with the United States ............................................71 CONTENTS vii 1.2 Relations with China ..............................................................74 1.3 Relations with Japan...............................................................77 1.4 Other relations........................................................................79 2 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ................................81 2.1 The Six Party Talks, the nuclear issue and relations with the United States ............................................................81 2.2 Relations with China ..............................................................86 2.3 Relations with Japan...............................................................88 2.4 Relations with Russia .............................................................89 2.5 Other relations........................................................................89 Nation Branding in South Korea: A Modern Continuation of the Developmental State?........................91 Alena Schmuck 1 Introduction ............................................................................92 2 The Developmental State .......................................................93 2.1 The concept of the Developmental State................................93 2.2 The South Korean Developmental State ................................94 3 Nation Branding .....................................................................98 3.1 The concept of Nation Branding ............................................98 3.2 The practice of Nation Branding..........................................100 4 Nation Branding in South Korea: the Presidential Council on Nation Branding.................................................101 4.1 Motives for Nation Branding in South Korea ......................101 4.2 Structure, goals and activities of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding.................................................105 5 Parallels between South Korean Nation Branding and the Developmental State ............................................................108 6 Conclusion............................................................................112 From ‘Cold Friendship’ to Strategic Partnership: The Transformation of South Korea’s Political Relations with India ...............................119 Niclas D. Weimar 1 Introduction ..........................................................................119 2 South Korea and India during the Cold War: from mistrust to ‘cold friendship’ ........................................120 2.1 India and the Korean problem..............................................121 2.2 The role of India in the Korean War ....................................122 viii CONTENTS 2.3 The prisoner of war debacle .................................................124 2.4 Post-war diplomatic rift between the ROK and India ..........126 2.5 ‘Cold friendship’ in the post-Rhee years..............................127 3 Political impetus of South Korean-Indian rapprochement after the Cold War ................................................................130 3.1 Countering the China-Pakistan-North Korea triangle ..........131 3.2 Defence and security co-operation .......................................134 3.3 Energy security and nuclear co-operation ............................136 4 Implications of the Indo-Korean strategic partnership: an axis in the making?..........................................................137 5 Conclusion............................................................................140