Interstate Political Psychology Expressed through Missile Mechanisms : The Case of the ROK-US Alliance (2021.11)
- Author : Ji Il Kim
- Publication : STRATEGIC STUDIES
- Publisher : Korea Research Institute for Strategy
- Volume : 28(3)
- Date : November, 2021
Abstract: Why did the United States, which had restricted South Korea’s missile development for 42 years, agree to terminate the South Korea-U.S. Missile Guidelines? What kind of national psychology was at work? The purpose of this study is to analyze the political psychology across countries revealed in the missile mechanism by taking the missile agreement of the ROK-US alliance as an example. Missiles can be used as a proxy that can reveal the psychology of a country in International Relations. A missile is an object that induces a ‘fear of threat’ in an adversary and an object that induces a ‘fear of entrapment’ in an ally. In a nutshell, for Washington the ‘fear of threat’ of a North Korean nuclear missile attack on the the continental U.S. is greater than the ‘fear of entrapment’ in war by South Korea. Therefore, the U.S. has needed to strengthen South Korea’s missile capabilities and actively ended the Missile Guidelines.