Lyong Choi
Hanyang University · Social Sciences
About the Lab
Professor Lyong Choi's research lab specializes in Cold War history, with a focus on U.S. foreign policy, nuclear non-proliferation, and Korea's foreign and security policy during the late 20th century. The lab investigates inter-Korean relations, South Korea’s nuclear ambitions, and the impact of U.S.-China rapprochement on regional dynamics in East Asia. It emphasizes archival research and diplomatic history, particularly through newly declassified documents from South Korea and the United States.
Research Overview
Research Output Trend
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Selected Papers
15This article provides an explanation for North Korea-Zimbabwe bilateral relations from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, in the context of Cold War in the Third World. Supporting the military resistance of African nations, North Korea sought to gain its dominance over South Korea in the diplomatic war between the two Koreas. North Korea contributed to the liberation of Zimbabwe and helped Robert Mugabe establish his political foundations in the country. However, North Korea’s political gain fro
This article discusses how and why South Korea tried to develop its own nuclear programme in order to safeguard its national security after the US withdrawal from Southeast Asia in 1975 and 1976. Because Washington did not want nuclear proliferation in East Asia, the South Korean leadership decided to use its fledgling nuclear programme as a trump card in negotiations with the US. This article will demonstrate the process in which the client states of the US came to understand how to negotiate w
This thesis is a history of South Korean policy towards North Korea and its general foreign policy at the time of fluctuation of relations between the allies, the Republic of Korea and USA, between 1968 and 1979. The thesis shows how American East Asian policy and South Korean people‘s aspiration for the reunification and democracy of Korea affected Park Chunghee‘s Cold War strategy. After Park Chunghee failed to find a common ideological foundation with the Americans, the South Korean leader st
Abstract This article discusses the impact and implications of Sino-American reconciliation on South Korea's policy towards its conflict with North Korea as well as its effect on South Korean politics in the early 1970s. Specifically, this article will examine how the Park regime altered its policy toward the North in response to the demands of the Nixon administration, before discussing the limitations of the policy in terms of the hostile approach of the Park regime toward Pyongyang during its
This book traces the development of U.S-led global nuclear non-proliferation diplomacy during the three decades since the Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace.
This article provides the historical explanation for Nordpolitik, which built the foundation for Roh Tae-woo's China policy and the end of Cold War in East Asia. It first discusses Roh's China policy with the process for South Korea and China's diplomatic relationship as well as other factors that affected the rapprochement between the two countries in the early 1990s. Then, the article makes a brief evaluation of current South Korean-Chinese relations and policy suggestions for the future devel
This article provides a detailed review of Jimmy Carter’s policy toward South Korea and the reaction from South Korea in the late 1970s based on recently declassified South Korean and American archival documents, newspapers, an interview with a former South Korean official, and the biography of South Korean president Park Chunghee. Jimmy Carter had a difficult time realizing his pledge to withdraw American ground troops from South Korea because of opposition from the U.S. Congress and insubordin
Theodore H. Hughes (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012), xi +271 pp In Literature and Film in Cold War South Korea, Theodore Hughes makes an important contribution to the scholarship of both...
본 연구는 한국과 독일의 원자력 정책을 비교하고, 양국의 정책 차이가 발생한 원인을 설명한다. 한국과 독일의 시민들은 원자력 에너지의 효율성에 대한 인식에서 큰 차이를 보이지 않았으나, 원자력 발전소를 자신의 거주지 근처에 유치하는 것에 대해서는 상당한 인식 차이를 보였다. 1980년대 후반부터 탈원전 정책을 추진한 독일과 달리, 한국은 2017년부터 2022년까지 추진된 탈원전 정책을 중단하고, 원전의 국가 전력 에너지 비중을 20%대에서 30%대로 확대하기로 결정하였다. 본 연구는 한국과 독일 내 기존 원전 분포와 인구 분포의 차이가 양국 시민들의 원전 유치에 대한 수용성에 큰 영향을 미쳤음을 발견하였다. 한국은 수도권 및 일부 대도시에 인구와 산업이 밀집해 있는 반면, 독일은 인구가 구 서독 지역을 중심으로 고르게 분포되어 있다. 또한, 한국의 원전은 영남과 호남 지역 해안을 중심으로 집중 분포된 반면, 독일의 원전은 구 서독 지역의 산업 지대 인근에 고르게 분포되어 있다. 한
Abstract When faced with the threat of invasion by the Mongol Empire and Goreyo, its vassal state, Kamakura Japan could have followed a diplomatic course with the Mongols or formed an alliance with anti-Mongol forces on the continent. Authorities in Japan, however, rejected both options, choosing instead to fight the Mongols alone on their own soil. International-relations models fail adequately to explain Kamakura Japan’s preference for self-reliance. By contrast, Asuka Japan, when faced with a
Abstract This article traces ROK–US negotiations for the termination of the ROK's nuclear weapons program. It was not solely an issue of ROK–US relations; France and Canada, other allies of the United States, were also involved in the ROK's nuclear weapons development. When an ally (ROK) attempted to develop nuclear weapons and another ally (France) pursued commercial interests by exporting nuclear technology, the US-led non-proliferation regime was put at risk. Therefore, the US had to coordina
Research Areas
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