This article reviews inter-Korean relations in the period from 1980 to 1997
during which Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, and Kim Young-sam led their
respective governments. Detente became more prevalent around the division
system on the Korean peninsula with various actors’ choices intersecting with
one another. At the peninsular level, the South and the North agreed on a new
set of definitions for mutual recognition?albeit with limitations?in the 1991
South-North Basic Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, and
Exchanges and Cooperation, which created the so-called the S-N Basic Agreement “regime.” However, the regime broke down soon after, making the Korean peninsula problem an international issue. In 1994, the United States and DPRK made a breakthrough in the Geneva Agreed Framework, despite which
the division system developed minor fissures but remained intact. This failure
shows that, despite changes in the international system surrounding the Korean
peninsula, the division system will be extremely difficult to overcome
unless each actor realizes a change of the mindset that is supplemented by a
strong resolve to act on it.