Harrison shows why North Korea is not--as many policymakers expect--about to collapse. And he explains why existing U.S. policies hamper North-South reconciliation and reunification. Assessing North Korean capabilities and the motivations that have led to its forward deployments, he spells out the arms control concessions by North Korea, South Korea, and the United States necessary to ease the dangers of confrontation, centering on reciprocal U.S. force redeployments and U.S. withdrawals in return for North Korean pullbacks from the thirty-eighth parallel.

Similarly, he proposes specific trade-offs to forestall the North's development of nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, calling for the withdrawal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella in conjunction with agreements to denuclearize Korea embracing China, Russia, and Japan. The long-term goal of U.S. policy, he argues, should be the full disengagement of U.S. combat forces from Korea as part of regional agreements insulating the peninsula from all foreign conventional and nuclear forces.

A veteran journalist with decades of extensive firsthand knowledge of North Korea and long-standing contacts with leaders in Washington, Seoul, and Pyongyang, Harrison is perfectly placed to make these arguments. Throughout, he supports his analysis with revealing accounts of conversations with North Korean, South Korean, and U.S. leaders over thirty-five years. Combining probing scholarship with a seasoned reporter's on-the-ground experience and insights, he has given us the definitive book on U.S. policy in Korea--past, present, and future.

From the Inside Flap
"Selig Harrison has written the best book to appear on the Korean problem in many years. It is the summing up of thirty-five years of close observation by one of America's best analysts, who marries the curiosity of a great investigative reporter to the contemporary policy concerns of someone in close touch with debates in Washington. Unlike almost anyone else, Harrison has had access to all the major players in Washington, Seoul, and Pyongyang, while retaining his independence and authoritative... read more

Keywords: Korean Endgame: A Strategy for Reunification and U.S. Disengagement, Books, Selig S. Harrison, United States, Foreign relations, Korea (North), Military relations, Korea (South), Politics - Current Events, Political Science, International Relations - General, Asia - Korea, History