Beyond North Korea

South Korea has prospered in the shadow of North Korea for more than a half-century. But can it continue to survive in the face of this and other pressing threats? South Korea. a U.S. treaty ally since the Korean War ended in 1953, is a remarkable example of economic and political progress, and a global role model for the benefits of open development policies and alignment with the United States. But the country's continued prosperity, even its survival, remains far from assured. Just across the Demilitarized Zone on the divided peninsula, the communist North Korean regime wields a million-person army and has developed nuclear weapons in an effort to intimidate, threaten, and eventually dominate the South. But is this South Korea's greatest threat? To the west, a rising China seems intent on restoring its millennia-long influence over the entire peninsula. And domestically, the South must deal with the downsides of its enormously successful modernization, including the world's second-lowest birthrate, a rapidly aging society, economic slowdown', energy shortages, and environmental degradation. In view of the increasing U.S.-PRC rivalry, Seoul's failure to deal successfully with thi