Hideo Sato

Chae-Jin Lee

The Case of Korea

U.S.-Japan Partnership in Conflict Management

This is a unique and definitive study to reassess the complex dynamics of US-Korea diplomatic relations during the Reagan presidency. It examines the goals, methods, and legacy of Reagan’s policy toward Korea with emphasis on the realities of alliance politics and the tactics of quiet diplomacy. It questions a widely held view that Reagan showed simplistic, inattentive, and rigid approaches toward foreign affairs, arguing that his actual policy, as demonstrated in the Korea case, was more sophisticated, nuanced, and pragmatic than commonly assumed. Based on a vast amount of confidential diplomatic documents, especially in Korean, and interviews the author has conducted with US and Korean leaders, Lee sheds new light on Reagan's role in promoting democratization in South Korea as well as his engagement with North Korea.

Alliance Politics and Quiet Diplomacy

Reagan Faces Korea

In A Troubled Peace, Professor Chae-Jin Lee reviews the vicissitudes of U.S. policy toward South and North Korea since 1948 when rival regimes were installed on the Korean peninsula. He explains the continuously changing nature of U.S.-Korea relations by discussing the goals the United States has sought for Korea, the ways in which these goals have been articulated, and the methods used to implement them. Using a careful analysis of declassified diplomatic documents, primary materials in English, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, and extensive interviews with American and Korean officials, Lee draws attention to a number of factors that have affected U.S. policy: the functions of U.S. security policy in Korea, the role of the United States in South Korea's political democratization, President Clinton's policy of constructive engagement toward North Korea, President Bush's hegemonic policy toward North Korea, and the hexagonal linkages among the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and the two Koreas. Drawing on concepts of containment, deterrence, engagement, preemption, and appeasement, Lee's balanced and thoughtful approach reveals the frustrations of all players in their attempts to arrive at a modicum of coexistence. His objective, comprehensive, and definitive study reveals a dynamic—and incredibly complex—series of relationships underpinning a troubled and tenuous peace.

U.S. Policy and the Two Koreas

A Troubled Peace

Ch'ae-jin Yi

The longtime Chinese premier Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) is one of the most important, interesting, and appealing figures among twentieth-century world statesmen. Of him, Henry Kissinger wrote: "He was equally at home in philosophy, reminiscence, historical analysis, tactical probes, humorous repartee. . . . Zhou Enlai, in short, was one of the two or three most impressive men I have ever met." Yet his biographies - both Chinese and non-Chinese - have paid scant attention to how Zhou Enlai acquired and developed his notable intellectual and behavioral attributes. This book asserts that the rich and diverse personal, educational, and political experiences of Zhou's formative years established clear patterns for his future personal and political orientations. It divides Zhou's early life into four phases: his upbringing in Jiangsu province and Manchuria (1898-1913), his education at the Nankai Middle School (1913-17), his experience in Japan (1917-19), and his political activism in China during the May Fourth era and in Europe (1919-24). The commonly held view is that the young Zhou, abandoned by his parents, was an angry and difficult youth. Even though his early childhood was indeed disturbed by adoption, family tragedies, and frequent moves, the author shows that Zhou grew up in a warm, supportive family environment. His schooling at the Nankai School exposed him to Western, Christian, and scientific influences, but the author shows that he was also influenced by the neo-Confucian outlook of the school's founder. In Japan, Zhou encountered Marx's doctrines, but on his return to China in 1919 he did not immediately become involved in the May Fourth Movement. However, he gradually assumed a leadership position in student organizations and finally embraced Marxism as a means to save China. In Europe, he devoted himself to starting communist groups among Chinese students in France and to organizing a united front between communists and Chinese nationalists. The method of his subsequent revolutionary activities was thus firmly established. In addition to substantiating the facts of Zhou Enlai's early years for the first time, the author sets Zhou's experience in the broader historical context of the challenges and opportunities facing the Chinese youth of his generation, notably the host of new ideas and events such as nationalism, Marxism, the Bolshevik Revolution, World War I, and the May Fourth Movement. The book contains 27 illustrations, most of which are photographs that are published here for the first time outside China.

Chae-Jin Lee

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