Evolution of US `engagement policy`

In international politics and security, the term `engagement` has various meanings. In wartime, it means ‘battle’, and in peacetime, it means ‘dialogue’. The Kim Dae-jung administration`s `sunshine policy` and the succeeding Roh Moo-hyun administration`s `peace and prosperity` policy toward North Korea are all engagement policies.

In its early days, the George W. Bush administration, which did not like President Kim`s policy of engagement with the North, refused to deal with Pyongyang but later implemented a `hawkish engagement` policy, a term coined by Victor Cha, former director for Asian Affairs at the White House`s National Security Council. The hawkish engagement policy stressed dialogue with the North coupled with strong pressure. Stephen Bosworth, who served as U.S. special envoy for the North under the Obama administration, advocated `tough engagement. ` Though determined never to provide large-scale assistance to the North until Pyongyang proved its sincerity over denuclearization, Bosworth was a dovish diplomat who thought most diplomacy was compensation for bad behavior.

U.S. policy toward the Korean Peninsula has seen the evolution of engagement policy. After getting involved in South Korea without thorough preparation, the U.S. sent a signal of disengagement in 1950 by excluding the South from the Acheson Line, or the U.S. defense line in the Pacific zone. The Carter administration, which took power after the U.S. failure in the Vietnam War, went through a divorce with Seoul after announcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in the South out of fear of entrapment.

In a contribution to Foreign Affairs magazine, Michele Flournoy, former U.S. defense undersecretary for policy under the Obama administration, defined the new basis of U.S. defense policy as `forward engagement, ` saying that despite defense budget cuts, the U.S. will forward deploy its troops at American military bases in the Asia-Pacific region.

The new policy also suggests Washington`s will to establish reciprocity in its defense commitment for allies rather than allowing them a free ride on U.S. military power. Both Seoul and Washington will have new administrations next year. How to engage a rising China and an unstable North Korea will likely be their common challenge.

Editorial Writer Ha Tae-won (triplets@donga.com)