North Korea's changes and the future of inter-Korean relations

This chapter analyzes North Korea's changes in terms of leaders' thinking and policy. It argues that South Korea's engagement policy toward the North has contributed to North Korea's changes, which have produced Inter-Korean rapprochement and will lead to a peaceful coexistence between the two Korean states. The chapter discusses patterns of North Korea's change after the inter-Korean summit. It suggests that North Korea's changes in thinking and policy would eventually bring about its systemic change. The inter-Korean summit in June 2000 was an historic, first-ever meeting in 55 years after the division of the Korean peninsula in 1945. In contrast, the progressives use inter-Korean non-governmental contacts, exchanges, and economic cooperation as the criteria for determining North Korea's change. Inter-Korean governmental talks were being held on and off, but the inter-Korean reconciliation process continued despite North Korea's nuclear issue. The inter-Korean exchanges undoubtedly facilitated internal changes of the North Korean society.