남북경제협력이 상호신뢰구축에 미치는 의미 = The Significance of Inter-Korean Economic Cooperations on the Mutual Confidence Building Process

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This thesis aims to cognitively evaluate the magnitude of positive influence of inter-Korean economic cooperations, in particular the effect of South Korea`s economic assistance to the impoverished and underdeveloped North Korea implemented by South Korean government and civic organizations through provision of humanist goods such as food, fertilizers, and medicines, sending tourists to Mt. Kumgang tourism site, and investment in various places of North Korea including the Kaesong Industrial park, on the process of reunification of two Koreas. As the South`s economic assistances to the North have caused severe controversy among South Koreans over their effects, there has at the same time existed a necessity to examine the degree of positive significance of those economic assistances. This thesis adopted interviews with North Koreans in Pyungyang, Kaesong and other areas in North Korea and analysis of recent economic indexes related to inter-Korean economic cooperations as the main tools of this examination. The results of examination show that South Korea`s economic assistance as a whole has generated a great deal of positive influence in alleviating the North Koreans` enmity towards and distrust in South Korean government and its people, which were deeply embedded in the hearts of both Koreans in the wake of the fratricidal Korean war in 1950 - 1953 and thereafter have served as one of the most formidable barriers to reunification of two Koreas, as well as in lulling controversy among South Koreans over the significance and necessity of the economic assistance to North Korea.