Asia Security and Bilateral Diplomacy
It is important to note that marginalization of the Korean issues by Russia is a common phenomenon. The marginalization was brought about by the announcement made by Pyongyang in 1993 (Kim and Lee 146). North Korea was made angry by Russia’s move to support America on the Korean nuclear issues (Kim and Lee 147). To end the Korean conflict, Russia proposed multilateral approaches, which were not, supported by many especially those in the Asia region. China and Russia have had good diplomatic relations, but they were unable to woo China to support multilateral dialogue on the Korean issues. China refused to support Russia’s idea because it has long been advocating for bilateral diplomacy between the two warring Korean peninsula nations (Kim and Lee 149). The road ahead for the relations between North Korea and Russia is improving it (Kim and Lee 157). Questions for Discussion 1. How will the collapse of the USSR affect the relations in the Korean peninsula? 2. How will approach (multilateral) advocated by Russia improve the Korean peninsula relations? 3. China claims that bilateral diplomacy will help in solving the Korean conflict, how will it help since China has had little interest in ending the conflict. 4. China has been reluctant on the Korean issue\, and it has neither promoted Russia’s inclusion nor exclusion from the talks, what could be the interest of China? 5. What is the way forward in ending the Korean peninsula conflict?