Korea Now by Senior Researcher Geir Helgesen, NIAS

3. Jan 2008

Now ten years of active engagement between South and North Korea can be evaluated. Was it worth it? Is the relationship improving? Will North Korea dismantle its nuclear facilities and even give up any nuclear weapons it might possibly have in stock? Will the deals agreed upon by the outgoing South Korean administration and the North hold, or will the new, apparently more conservative, incoming president cancel the deals and take a fresh look at the situation? (This happened when Bush took over after Clinton; years of slowly built and fragile goodwill between North Korea and the US were lost.) As always there are many more questions than solid answers, and as always observers are ready to engage in what we like to call “educated guesswork”.

So here you have my speculations:

Geir Helgesen, Ph.D.

Cultural sociologist

 

Read the report North Korea 2007 : assisting development and change / Geir Helgesen and Nis Høyrup Christensen