ABSTRACT
Worried by a Korean Peninsula peace process that is characterized by hiccups, subterfuge turns and curves; this study seeks to advance a clearer understanding of the issues at play and deployed the narratives of National interests and the dynamics of Rapprochement to chart an alternative road map to the peace process. Going forward, the study adopts the ideological conflict paradigm in the peninsula and its analysis to create a global order of peaceful co-existence and free trade. The ideological viewpoints of Francis Fukuyama, Samuel Philip Huntington and strands of various scholars shall be explored to navigate the course of a new global order. This study therefore is a contribution to charting a pathway to the peace process and a global order, through the focusing on the new twist in America’s foreign policy under President Donald Trump hinged on ‘America first’ to interrogate the US global diplomacy and the Korean peace process. Finally, the study examines the personality traits of Korean Peninsula State actors and situates its impact as driving force to the Korean Peninsula peace process.
The study relied on both secondary and primary sources of data collection. The secondary sources include journals, books, magazines, newspapers, the internet and Statutes related to the subject matter. Under the primary sources, questionnaire was administered on experts of international relations in the academia as well as research fellows in Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos. In-depth interviews were conducted on Professors of International Relations in Political Science Department in various universities. Data were also obtained from the personnel (diplomats) of the Federal Ministry of External Affairs, Abuja. Data generated from the questionnaire and the in-depth interviews were collated, processed and analyzed applying the simple percentage model to test the formulated research questions and propositions.
The study, among other things, found that the Korean Peninsula crisis is an extension of the ideological rivalry of the cold war era exemplified by nuclear weapon accumulation and ballistic missile testing. Thus, the study ascribes the main cause of the crisis to both uncompromising national interests of key state actors as well as the interplay of ideological conflicts and holds that if ideological posturing of key state actors is de-emphasized, resolution of the crisis will be right on course. The study also found a substantial correlation between the personality trait of state actors and the promotion of Korean Peninsula peace process. The study made several recommendations; first, a strict adherence to the pursuit of national interest defined on ideological strands be replaced by global interest predicted on peaceful co-existence. Finally, a bilateral platform of US-North Korea Summits to negotiate a denuclearization of the Korea Peninsula cannot create a nuclear-free region hence be replaced by a six-party platform of all stakeholding states of North Korea, South Korea, China, US, Japan and Russia.
