The North Korean Nuclear Threat and South Korea's Identity Politics in 2006

North Korea's nuclear test in 2006 marked a critical stage, making North Korea a de facto nuclear state. But South Korea's response was unexpectedly restrained, providing enough grounds for construing the Roh administration's behavior as "underbalancing." Nevertheless, the Roh administration's response is difficult to explain using neoclassical realist theory, even if there was some kind of "underbalancing" phenomenon. In the case of South Korea, it is impossible to generalize about how domestic politics is reflected in foreign policy with several domestic variables. In South Korea, inter-Korean relations are deeply linked to domestic politics, because policy toward North Korea includes cultural elements such as identity and norms. South Korea's response to the North Korean nuclear issue, particularly the Roh administration's countermeasures to North Korea's first nuclear test, shows the merits of constructivism, which emphasizes cultural-institutional elements such as norms and identity.