Russia and the Korean peace process

Russia’s attitudes and policy toward the Korean peace and unification process will be largely determined by Russia’s interests in the Korean peninsula. It is, however, noteworthy that Korea in its own right has never taken up a central position in Russian foreign policy considerations, and Russia’s Korea policy was mostly a by-product of Russian relations with other major powers in Northeast Asia. Before looking into Russia’s attitudes and policy on Korean peace and unification, a brief survey of Russia’s past interests in the Korean peninsula is in order. Russia prefers a multinational arrangement for Korean peace and security. Russia welcomes inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation and supports the idea that Korean questions should be resolved, first of all, by Koreans themselves. Russia’s primary motivation behind these projects is economic, but the same projects will inevitably have political and security repercussions for Korean peace and security.