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영어

This paper purports to examine the situation and direction of Korea-Japan security cooperation. For this purpose, the environment of Korea-Japan security cooperation in terms of structure and behavior has been examined. First, environment change of Korea-Japan security cooperation in terms of international structure has been characterized both the manifestation of the U.S.-China rivalry on the world level and China-Japan confrontation on the regional level. It means that the power transition since the post-Cold War Era has been still proceeding while the new international order has been in the making. Second, the policies of the U.S., China and Japan since the post-Cold War Era in terms of main actors are characterized by the U.S. and Japan's concern toward China in spite of the deepening of economic interdependence among 3 countries. The U.S. and Japan's concern is found in the U.S. Quadrennial Defense Review Report(2006 and 2010) and Japan's National Defense Program Outline(2004 and 2010). The U.S. and Japan has similar concern and attitude that China's economic rising can change to the strengthening of military capability. Finally, both Korea and Japan's foreign policy is strongly pro-American. In this sense, it is necessary for Korea and Japan to have defense cooperation. However, Korea and Japan have always have a slightly suspicious relationship from the historical point of view. Koreans have bitter memories of Japan's colonial rule. Therefore, military cooperation with Japan is a sensitive issue for Korean. Furthermore, Korea is worried that China may interpret a growing military relationship between South Korea and Japan as some kind of blocking on China. In this sense, military cooperation between Korea and Japan has to be maintained as the minor cooperation such as military personnel exchange, joint military exercise including trust-building between 2 countries. The main purpose of this cooperation is to build and enhance the reliability and trust between 2 countries because a couple of issues have marred the smooth running of 2 countries' relationship.