ABSTRACT
Korean society is polarized by political schism. There are two schools of thought in Korea on China. One still believes in the criticality of Korea’s alliance with the U.S. to its survival as a nation state and persistently advocates how China is strategically distrustful. The other highly appreciates the economic dividends of China’s rise and their impact on the sustainability of Korea’s economy. It argues for a more balanced approach in Korea’s relations with the U.S. and China. Such a social phenomenon is evident in the whole spectrum of issues pertaining to the U.S. and China, ranging from economics to social, politics to security, and diplomacy to defence. One salient consequence is the social cost that Korea has to pay over issues that are raised by either the U.S. or China. Unfortunately, equipped with a kin awareness on the divide bound to occur in Korean society, these two great powers have been taking advantage of Korean society’s characteristic to better serve their own interest in the Korean Peninsula. Korea’s foreign policy is abnormally influenced by the schism that a regime indulges in without much reference to the ramifications that the schism may engender.
