'러시아-북한-중국 삼각관계'의 전략적 함의: '미국 요인'과 한국에의 시사점 (The Russo-Sino-North Korea Triangle: The American Factor and Policy Implications for Korea)

Korean Abstract: 본 연구는 중국의 부상과 미국의 아시아 회귀 노선, 아베 총리 등장 이후 일본의 재보수화 그리고 북한의 수정주의화라는 환경 변수하에서, 박근혜 정부의 동아시아 외교에 정책적 함의를 제시하는 데 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 본 연구는 러-북-중 삼각관계라는 고전적 유산 그리고 그것이 어떤 경로의존성을 통해 현재에 영향을 주고 있는지, 그래서 형성된 새로운 삼각관계의 성격 그리고 그 전망은 무엇인지를 밝히고자 하였다. 박근혜 정부가 강조하는 행복한 통일시대와 신뢰 프로세스 그리고 상생외교의 완성은 북방 삼각관계를 외면하고는 성공할 수 없는 시대로 들어서고 있기 때문이다. English Abstract: The purpose of this work is to provide the Park Geun-hye administration with policy implications in response to the current diplomatic situation in the East Asia region: a rising China, the US “Pivot to Asia”, Japan's reversion to conservatism under the Abe administration, and North Korea’s revisionist behavior. To this end, this research paper seeks to highlight the Russo-Sino-North Korean triangle that is the historical legacy of the region and how it affects the current state of affairs, through certain elements of path dependency and eliciting features of and prospects for a newly established trilateral relationship. We are entering the age in which the Northern trilateral relations are indispensible to the peaceful unification of the North and South Korea and the diplomacy of coexistence through trust, upon which Park's administration places special emphasis. The Russo-Sino-North Korea triangle which was established in the 2000's has become less institutionalised and the interaction among three parties involved has also been declining in terms of frequency and intensity compared to the trilateral regime established in the 1950's. The Russo-Sino-North Korea triangle once characterized as a military alliance has been considerably weakened by the elimination of the automatic-military intervention clause from the treaty involving those three nations; and the close association between the parties and governments regarding domestic and international affairs is no longer in place. Nevertheless, China-Russia and Russia-North Korea concluded treaties of friendship in the 2000’s which included a specific clause stipulating that the parties work closely with each other in case the other party is faced with immediate threat, and the Sino-North Korea treaty of friendship effectively maintained the clause for automatic military intervention. In other words, although there is no explicit treaty including all three nations, there is a probable mechanism among three parties which allows tripartite consultation or common action in case of a crisis arising in one party. In fact, it is an undeniable reality that the Russo-Sino-North Korean triangle has strategic significance in North East Asian geopolitics in light of the fact that they have been cooperating, albeit loosely, to deal with key issues such as the North Korean nuclear issue.