The objective of this book is to examine the progress that has been made and the obstacles to the establishment of comprehensive security cooperation between Russia and South Korea since the inauguration of diplomatic relations in 1990. Bilateral relations between Russia and South Korea are examined from the point of view of multi-dimensional security, focusing on regional economic security cooperation. The book focuses on six aspects of cooperation between Russia and South Korea: oil and natural gas projects, linking the Trans-Siberian Railroad (TSR) and the Trans-Korean Railroad (TKR), industrial development in the Nakhodka Free Economic Zone (FEZ), fishery cooperation, the arms trade, and the North Korean factor. Russian-South Korean bilateral relations illustrate three important aspects of security studies: states’ perceptions of security, security cooperation between nation states, and security threats to further security cooperation.
The book employs the term “comprehensive security,” encompassing regional economic security, as the main conceptual framework to examine security cooperation between Moscow and Seoul, since “comprehensive security” includes both the traditional political and military dimension, and the non-traditional regional economic dimension. It applies these concepts to the six case studies and also aims to identify what the security threats are.
Specifically, the book explores how the focus of the regional security cooperation building process between Russia and South Korea has evolved since the establishment of diplomatic relations. I argue that the two countries have put equal emphasis on both traditional and non-traditional security cooperation. However, the focus has gradually changed from the traditional to a non-traditional dimension. In other words, in recent years, both countries have been engaged in enhancing regional economic security in the regions of the Russian Far East and the Korean peninsula, respectively, specifically focusing on energy security, fishery, constructing a transport network, creating a FEZ, and nuclear proliferation issues. Moreover, the chapter on the arms trade between Russia and South Korea illustrates that even in this field, non-traditional security, that is, enhancing national economic security interests, has been paramount. The role of North Korea in Russian-South Korean bilateral security relations also provides an interesting perspective within the comprehensive security framework, since it is viewed not only as a traditional security threat, but also as an economic security-enhancing factor in the long term.
The main thesis of this book illustrates that in order to establish a favourable regional security environment, bilateral and multilateral cooperation among nation states is essential because regional economic security cooperation provides an opportunity to generate trust and confidence between nation states.1 However, I argue that bilateral relations between Moscow and Seoul have developed quite slowly because both have underestimated the importance of regional economic security. As a result, the two countries have failed to cultivate full trust in each other,2 and neither side has had the motivation to deal with existing domestic obstacles such as the inherent economic difficulties of the Russian Far East, and the reluctance of the South Korean government and private sector to invest in the long term. I also contend that bilateral security cooperation between the two countries has been hampered by external factors such as the North Korean nuclear issue and the dominating role the United States has been playing in the Northeast Asian region.
A case study of Russian-Korean bilateral relations is relevant to the fields of both comparative politics and international relations. Despite their geographical proximity and their geo-strategic importance to each other, the study of Russian-South Korean relations has been superseded by relatively more important relationships such as Russia-China, Russia-Japan, US-South Korea, Japan-South Korea, or China-South Korea, in the past few decades. However, their bilateral relations should not be underestimated, considering Russia’s desire to be part of the Northeast Asian regional community and the complexity of the relations among major states in Northeast Asia.
The study of Russian-Korean bilateral relations also reveals how Moscow and Seoul have redefined their security policy objectives, and how their perceptions of each other have evolved. When Gorbachev normalized relations with the South in the late 1980s, it was a great departure from previous Soviet foreign policy. Prior to this, North Korea, as a member of the socialist world, was viewed as a natural ally of the Soviet Union. Moreover, the Soviet leadership appeared to believe much of its own propaganda that South Korea was merely a puppet of Washington. Gorbachev’s “New Thinking” concerning the Korean peninsula demonstrated that Soviet foreign policy would no longer be conducted on the basis of ideology, but on the basis of economic considerations.
Bilateral Russian-South Korean relations also show how Russia is redefining its foreign policy priorities. Trade talks and a number of long-term economic projects between the two countries suggest that economic security concerns have become a major priority of Russia’s foreign policy in the region. Furthermore, Moscow-Seoul rapprochement has more far-reaching implications in international relations. A study of Russian-South Korean relations also provides insight into the broader forces shaping the formative stages of Russia’s international behaviour towards other great powers in the Asia-Pacific region. Throughout history, the Kremlin has played “the Korean card” to put pressure on Japan and China, or the United States, and it has clearly displayed an interest in a greater political role for East Asia. On the other hand, South Korea looked to the Russian connection as a counterbalance to American, and Chinese and Japanese influence in the Korean peninsula, and as an instrument for deterring North Korea. In this sense, bilateral relations should be viewed within the context of a regional security framework.
In this chapter, I shall give a brief historical overview of the relationship between Russia and South Korea since history provides clues to the direction of Russian-South Korean multi-dimensional security cooperation. This chapter also examines the strengths and weaknesses of the existing literature on Russian-South Korean relations and explains how my analysis builds on, and at times diverges from previous studies, offering a new interpretation. The final section of the chapter sets out the structure of this book.
1 Historical Overview
The establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and the Soviet Union in September 1990 signalled a turning point in the history of East Asian international relations at the end of the twentieth century. The hostility that had existed between the two states for forty-five years disappeared in a brief span of time. In the Soviet-South Korea rapprochement in the late 1980s, the figure of Gorbachev, combined with structural factors such as the Sino-Soviet and American-Soviet rapprochements, played a significant role, although it is often hard to separate one factor from another. This section gives a brief historical account of the approach towards the Korean peninsula of Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin.
1.1 Gorbachev’s South Korean Policy
Gorbachev created many possibilities for radical change in Soviet-Korean relations since he gave Korean policy very special attention. According to Alex Pravda, “the perestroika years [saw] some movement towards co-operation and even embryonic partnership on regional and global problems to strengthen general international security.”3 Gorbachev’s attempt to revitalize Soviet foreign policy included the adoption of a set of principles which he called the “New Political Thinking.” As Margot Light notes, “although they primarily concern relations between the superpowers, they include a new emphasis on interdependence and on the need for flexibility in foreign policy. The Soviet leadership has also declared that the Soviet Union should diversify its foreign relations, in particular so that they are not seen through the prism of Soviet-American relations.”4 To accomplish this, Gorbachev paid particular attention to Korea. His New Thinking on the Korean peninsula comprised of an acceptance of the reality that there was a powerful state in the south of the peninsula, which possessed its own political weight in the Asia-Pacific community; recognition that the dangerously escalating t...