Young Whan Kihl

Farm structure and rural policy in Japan

Abstract Japanese agriculture, by US standards, is highly fragmented and inefficient. Not only is farm size small but also most farmers pursue non-farm employment and are engaged in farming only on a part-time basis. These structural factors, which are either static or changing slowly, inevitably influence the making and implementation of agricultural and rural policies in Japan. Due to the rapid transformation of Japanese society, from the agrarian basis of early years to a highly industrialized and post-industrial society, a new farm policy agenda has arisen along with the need for structural adjustment of agriculture to meet changing economic conditions.

North Korea’s foreign relations: Diplomacy of promotive adaptation

Dramatic changes in East Europe and the Soviet Union resulted in North Korea’s doubling its effort to shield and defend itself from disturbances emanating from the outside. Yet, President Kim Il Sung of North Korea has also opted for new diplomatic moves of realignment in existing ties with China and the Soviet Union and is also seeking new rleations with Japan and the United States. North Korea’s diplomatic adaptation in 1990–91, such as its balancing diplomatic acts vis-à-vis the major allies and adversaries, is examined, and so is the North Korean dilemma of reconciling national interests and ideology. While Pyongyang’s nonaligned nations diplomacy is temporarily stalled, its Un diplomacy is likely to be activated as a result of the simultaneous entry into the United Nations with South Korea in 1991.

South Korea and the Socialist Countries: The Politics of Trade.@@@Korea 1991: The Road to Peace.

Part 1 The unprecedented character of trade contacts between South Korea and the socialist countries: the Peoples Republic of China - direct contact, equal treatment, permanent trade representatives Eastern Europe Soviet Union and Vietnam. Part 2 Exploring the commercial incentives: economic factors for Koreans the case of Eastern Europe the case of the Soviet Union the case of China. Part 3 Chinese and Soviet political strategies related to South Korea: Chinas strategic outlook the Soviets strategic outlook. Part 4 Northern diplomacy - ROK strategies in socialist country trade: using trade to change North Korea the relationship of trade to cross-recognition and reunification assessment of intent. Part 5 Response to the Northern policy: domestic concerns the external response. Part 6 ROKs Northern diplomacy in the regional and domestic contexts: regional environment - decline of the cold war, soft regionalism, the United States position in the region domestic environment - impact of democratization, the business climate. Part 7 Conclusion - changing actors and changing alignment - ROK socialist trade as a transnational phenomenon: the transnationalist paradigm - the affects of transnationalist activity, application to South Korea North-South reunification - the question of realignment. Appendices: two tables of Koreas trade with communist countries chronology.

Conclusion: Opportunities for Deescalating East Asia’s Conflicts

The preceding analyses of emerging trends, conflicts, and policy opportunities in East Asia and the Western Pacific, while emphasizing local and regional conflicts, also show a pattern of action-reaction by the United States and the Soviet Union, contributing to their force escalations in the region. Soviet power projection in Asia in recent years has undoubtedly been motivated by the desire to establish its legitimate claim as an Asian-Pacific power. But it also has occurred in response to the American retrenchment in the post-Vietnam era. Perhaps the Soviet Union also has been more active in hopes of participating in East Asia’s dynamic economic future. The torpid Soviet economy could surely benefit from it. The United States’ recommitment to the security of East Asia under the Reagan administration since 1981 is likewise a response to the unprecedented Soviet military buildup in the area, as well as an obvious vote of confidence in the region’s near-continuous economic performance.

Conflict Patterns in East Asia and the Western Pacific

East Asia is today one of the most economically dynamic regions in the world, the region which provides both a competitive edge and an economic challenge to the West. East Asia is becoming the world’s most productive region whose goods, technology, and services are outcompeting the West in many instances.1 East Asia, however, is also a conflict-ridden region, as subsequent discussion in this book will amply demonstrate. It is a region heavily armed militarily, a region where the interests of four major world powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and Japan—converge and crisscross. The nuclear buildup in the Soviet Far East has accelerated in the recent decade, thereby posing serious policy dilemmas for the United States and its allies in Asia.2