Abstract: Cultural awareness is especially important in a complex, globalized environment. Because each culture has different priorities in its basic values and beliefs, cultural collisions occur with some frequency. This paper uses the Korean unification issue as a case study to identify the cross-cultural awareness gaps between South Korea and the United States. It will discuss current U.S. security policy toward the Korean peninsula's unification by looking at two feasible policy options: status quo and collapse to be absorbed. Then it will analyze the Korean people's perceptions of these two options as a way to minimize cultural misperceptions between the United States and South Korea. The author recommends U.S. support of Korean unification. While the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas, in principle, belongs to Koreans, as a matter of national sovereignty, there is little public discussion of reunification among South Koreans. While there is no doubt that U.S. policy makers have strived to establish viable policies regarding the reunification of Koreas, many South Koreans wrongly perceive that current U.S. policy regarding reunification mainly favors U.S. national interests and reflects little regard for Korean welfare. Among Koreans, probably in both South and North Korea, there are intriguing questions about U.S. policy: Does Korean reunification support U.S. national interests? Does the United States truly support reunification? Does the U.S. military presence in South Korea alleviate the reunification process or hinder it? Will U.S. forces move out of Korea after reunification? What should happen with the large North Korean army after unification? Is there already a hidden consensus among Japan, China, Russia, and the U.S. governments arrived at without consultation of the two Korean governments? Answers to these questions are not yet clear. Unless these questions are resolved strategically, the misperceptions will remain.
| Limitations: |
 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE |
| Description: |
Research paper |
| Pages: |
28 |
| Report Date: |
18-Mar-2009 |
| Report Number: |
A320894 |
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