| Summary/Abstract |
This study uses leadership trait analysis to examine the link between personality and policy regarding South Korea’s Sunshine Policy toward North Korea and demonstrates that Kim Dae-jung’s personality characteristics largely accounted for this policy’s content, process, and outcome. With an analytical focus on the decision-making system, this study finds that Kim’s formal model was characterized by a control deemed inherently more indirect, subtle, and socialized than direct, personalized, or outright. Specifically, this type of control can be attributed to Kim’s personality traits, such as a persistently high need for power and relationship focus, along with other idiosyncratic style variables, such as disinclination toward interpersonal conflict, a sense of efficacy, and a sophisticated cognitive quality. President Kim’s resulting management style had the effect of empowering members of his advisory group and invigorating the policy process. In addition, the president’s trusted chief of staff, who served as a competent and thoughtful custodian manager with substantial authority, helped manage the system effectively and enhanced its stability. The study concludes that Kim Dae-jung’s management style, incorporating socialized control over decision-making, combined with his advocate leadership style in implementation (marked by a relentless push for his rapprochement agenda and a tendency to challenge constraints indirectly), helped accelerate the overall policy process. This contributed to the improvement of inter-Korean relations during his presidency.
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