Strategic Thinking about the Korean Nuclear Crisis

Often lost in the discussion about the nuclear crisis are its regional dynamics.  From 2002 China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea struggled to navigate between the unsettling belligerence of North Korea and the unilateral insistence of the United States. This book focuses on their strategic thinking over four stages of the crisis. Drawing on sources from each of the countries, it examines how the four perceived their role in the Six-Party Talks and the regional context, as they eyed each other. The book emphasizes the significance of these talks for the emerging security framework and great power cooperation in Northeast Asia.

Gilbert Rozman is the Musgrave Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, where he has taught since 1970. His previous monograph was Northeast Asia’s Stunted Regionalism: Bilateral Distrust in the Shadow of Globalization (2004). He also co-edited Korea at the Center: The Dynamics of Regionalism in Northeast Asia (2006).

“As the international community continues to grapple with the challenges posed by North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, Professor Gil Rozman has made an important and timely contribution to the debate.  Professor Rozman accurately portrays the competing and conflicting interests of the players in the Six-Party Talks and provides an insightful description of the miscalculations, misperceptions, and policy failings that have thus far prevented a resolution of this lingering crisis.  I know of no scholar better equipped than Gil Rozman to put the nuclear crisis squarely in the context of the complex regional relations among the powers in Northeast Asia.  Professor Rozman has performed a valuable service.”
–Evans J.R. Revere, President, The Korea Society