ABSTRACT
International isolation and collapse of the economic system will facilitate North Korea's political crisis. If North Korea fails to make progress in relations with the United States, South Korea, and Japan while implementing the first phases of the Agreed Framework, its international isolation and economic difficulties will be further exacerbated and it will face insurmountable difficulties. The leadership in North Korea, well-versed in diplomacy, will likely apply their skills to overcoming the first hurdle; even so, there is no guarantee that cooperation between North and South Korea and normalization of Japan-North Korea relations will be achieved in the short term. Japan's active cooperation toward the unification of Korea will be a good opportunity to change the Korean's image of Japan. In fact, as long as the Korean mistrust of Japan is derived from the unfortunate past of colonial rule, a new experience equal to the magnanimity of the past would be necessary to change the present image.
