ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to devise a novel theoretical framework to better understand nuclearisation and peace-building in the Korean Peninsula. Existing approaches of North Korean nuclear proliferation tend to downplay the dimensions of small power politics and strategic culture. To fill this knowledge gap, this chapter will outline what do I mean by ‘hopeful small power politics’, which depicts the paradox that North Korean nuclear proliferation and South Korean just peace-building are actually complementary.
The strategic cultural root of this novel Korean small power politics is argued to be the Korean people’s intelligent critique and historical awakening from centuries of the passive foreign policy cultivated in the Sino-centric world order. In recognising the Korean people as the true master of their own destiny, hopeful small power politics opens up new possibilities for an emerging pan-Korean state-building project towards an alternative form of great-power-hood, in which just peace-making and nuclear self-defence capabilities work hand-in-hand for the future survival and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula.
