The Mobilizing Power of the President: South Korean Presidents' Policy-making vis-à-vis North Korea.

Policy-making vis-à-vis North Korea has been a major task for successive South Korean presidents. It is related not only to the president's domestic reputation as a leader, but also seriously affects the state of national and international security. The policymaking regarding the North, meanwhile, has changed according to the successive regimes in South Korea. Why does each president produce and conduct the policy in a different way? The present research sees that the president's individual leadership style, philosophy and vision for the policy strongly influence the outcome of his/her policy-making. More specifically, the way of organizing and exercising institutional tools and personnel greatly depends on the president's personal capability and will. The present research compares two cases of policy-making vis-à-vis North Korea, that of Kim Dae-Jung's administration and that of Roh Moo-hyun, to show the considerable power that a president has in his administration, especially when it applies to relations with North Korea, which are closely tied up with national security and internal social issues. The present research finds that, even though these two presidents conducted their policy of engagement within the same policy framework, each president showed a rather different leadership style in implementing it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]