서강대학교

초록/요약

Abstract Since the end of cold war, the armed conflicts within the state have been greatly increased in their cases, while international conflicts between states have diminished gradually during the last decades. In order to manage international conflicts, international peace activities under the United Nations have become a much common practice for the participating countries to dispatch their military forces overseas. Although the well-trained and equipped Korean military forces have had a frequent opportunity to participate in the United Nations peace operations, Korean public and particular political groups hardly quite understand the nature and characteristics of the UN peace operations. The United Nations Peace Keeping Operations (UN PKO) and Multinational Forces in peace operations (MNF PO) are the same but their operation commands consisting of UN forces or multi-forces in their operation. As to the contribution of Korean forces stationed at any area, the peace operations of the Korean forces tend to promote cultural aspects of Korean life and values during their operations. The UN PKO and MNF PO do not involve in the battle within the states where Korean forces stationed. They engage mostly in the reconstruction and rehabilitation projects for the suffering population in the area. Therefore, the participation of Korean forces in these peace operations will greatly enhance Korea’s “Soft Power” in the region. This will be considered as the positive contribution of peace operation by Korean military forces to the foreign policy implementation. The purpose of this thesis is to verify the MNF PO’s contribution by comparing with UN PKO’s contribution to the improvement of ROK’s Soft Power. There are two cases of peace operations participating in East Timor as UNPKO mission and in Iraq as MNFPO mission. By dispatching military forces overseas, a good will and positive image of Korea have been transplanted in the mind of local populace in both countries. This will influence the foreign policy of hosting countries toward Korea. In other words, Korea’s peace missions through the UN PKO and MNF PO should enhance the influence of Korea’s soft power toward the hosting countries. As for the policy consideration, when any further request of Korean participation in the peace mission, this study argues for that the Korean government should take an opportunity to join to the UNPKO and MNFPO in the future. Keywords: Soft Power, Military Overseas Dispatch, Peace Operations, UN PKO, MNF PO.