The “New Northern Policy” strategy and its constraints

Abstract

The article evaluates the “New Northern Policy” of Moon Jae-in’s administration. Based on the evaluations, geopolitical risk management strategies of the Northern Policy, essential and feasible tasks and projects, and a guideline to establish cooperative governance are proposed. The characteristics of the New Northern Policy under Moon Jae-in’s leadership are as follows: 1) the idea of connecting the Republic of Korea with the continent through North Korea is more important task of the New Northern Policy than that of participation in the Eurasian integration process; 2) at the moment, the New Northern Policy cannot overcome geopolitical restrictions and it can be compared to a car equipped with a powerful noisy engine, which however cannot be moved; 3) due to many difficulties, it seems that the current administration may have fewer motivating factors to implement the New Northern Policy than to promote the New Southern Policy. To succeed in the New Northern Policy, the following tasks must be completed: finding a reasonable answer to Western sanctions against Russia and North Korea; actively promoting mini-lateral cooperation; establishing the Northeast Asian Development Bank with the participation of the United States, Japan, Russia and China; connecting the regulation of the North Korean nuclear issue to the creation of the “Northeast Railway Community”; strengthen the platform for successful implementation of the New Northern Policy.