| Summary/Abstract |
With the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics as an impetus, the two
Koreas and the United States have cast diplomatic maneuvers incessantly to devise
a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear issue and the Korean Peninsula
issue overall. Recently, the inter–Korean Summit and DPRK–U.S. summit resulted in
the signing of the Panmunjeom Declaration and the Joint Statement in Singapore after
talks for North Korea’s complete denuclearization and the peace regime on the Korean
Peninsula. In addition, Pyongyang declared that the byungjin line was successfully
carried out and announced that the state will focus on “economic construction.”
Nevertheless, the Kim Jong Un regime’s credibility and resolve for denuclearization are
the preconditions for peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula.
In this sense, this article commences with two research questions: Why has the Kim
Jong Un regime changed its economic development strategy, departing from the
previous byungjin line?; and How can we understand North Korea’s changes in a
national policy? Most of all, this paper will analyze the influence of North Korea’s
transition to an “economy-first” strategy this year on the politics of the Korean
Peninsula and discuss the South Korean government’s strategy regarding North
Korea for peace on the Korean Peninsula in the future.
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