ABSTRACT
The world witnessed an epoch-making change in the structure of international relations in 1989 and 1990. The socialist regimes in Eastern Europe disappeared one after another. The Berlin Wall, a symbol of the Cold War, was dismantled and German unification was achieved. A treaty of neighborliness and friendship was concluded between the Soviet Union and a unified Germany. Moreover, the tide of "new thinking" in diplomacy that had originated in Gorbachev's USSR was extended to Asia, resulting in the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, the reconciliation of Sino-Soviet relations, and the establishment of diplomatic ties between Seoul and Moscow.
