"Selig Harrison has longer and more intimate experience with North Korean security issues than any other American observer. He has used his inside knowledge plus extensive additional research to produce a provocative appeal for new thinking about the current situation on the Korean peninsula and the challenges in the years ahead. This is an important contribution that will benefit policymakers and the public alike."

"Korean Endgame is the best analysis I have seen of the difficult policy choices facing the United States in Korea. Selig Harrison covers all the key issues accurately and thoroughly, bringing into perspective the complicated relationships among North Korea, South Korea, and the United States. Providing a realistic strategy for ending one of the world's most dangerous military confrontations, this book should be required reading for policymakers and others who care about Asia and international affairs."

At a time when North Korean nuclear developments have created a crisis in world affairs, we are fortunate to have this thoughtful and provocative book. Based on meetings with both Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, Harrison presents explanations of Pyongyang's actions that are more sympathetic and intelligent than the official pronouncements of the North Korean government. He sees reunification as a realistic goal through a confederation of North and South, with all surrounding powers pledging the neutralization and denuclearization of the peninsula. He argues that the United States should withdraw its forces from South Korea over a ten-year period and seek to be an honest broker between North and South. With the end of the Cold War, North Korea lost the security backing of both Russia and China, and thus, in Harrison's view, it feels vulnerable to American attack, justifying the restart of its uranium-enrichment program. Although Harrison does not prepare us for the severity of the tensions caused by North Korean actions, he does cover a wide range of issues and much inside history, making this read still valuable.

As printed in Foreign Affairs (May/June 2003)