서강대학교

초록/요약

North Korea’s nuclear weapons capability has always ranked high in the concerns not just of the South Korean government in particular, but of the Northeast Asian region in general. Naturally, the United States as a major stakeholder country in Northeast Asian affairs has consistently been active in dealing with the threat posed by North Korea. While U.S.-DPRK relations has been recounted in numerous scholarly works in recent decades, prevailing studies on U.S. foreign policy towards North Korea have focused mostly on actions carried out by the U.S. administration. Meanwhile, studies that did touch upon Congress’s contribution to U.S. policy on North Korea just highlighted on the partisan differences within the legislative body while underplaying its role in the policymaking process. The U.S. Congress possesses tools that influence the administration’s foreign policy initiatives. By virtue of the powers vested in it as codified in the U.S. Constitution, the Congress enjoys much discretion in funding negotiations through the appropriations process and in attaching or relaxing conditions and requirements for the implementation of agreements. By taking a more serious look at the role that Congress plays in the U.S. North Korea policy, implications of the impact of congressional behavior on U.S.-DPRK relations can be reassessed yet again. As such, the primary objective of this paper is to review significant episodes in the negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea – this time taking into account the role played by Congress in each – and examine bills introduced or legislations passed through Congress on North Korea in recent decades. By focusing on the hitherto overlooked role of Congress in the policymaking process, and in effect supplementing earlier studies on the issue at hand, this study strives to achieve a better understanding of the internal workings of U.S. politics and how it considerably affects the conduct of U.S. foreign policy toward North Korea. Keywords: U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy, North Korea, U.S.-DPRK Relations, Nuclear Weapons Program, Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia