South Korea and Taiwan achieved salient economic growth and outstanding democratic transition which have attracted attention of many scholars as well as policy makers around East Asia. At the same time,there have been contrasts in the development of these nations' relations with the other parts of the divided nations, North Korea and Mainland China, since the late 1990s.
South Korea’s progressives set forth cooperation called “the Sunshine Policy” toward the North, on the other hand conservatives bore conflict against it. In contrast, Taiwan’s progressives advocated for Taiwan’s independence withstanding mainland China’s hostility, whereas conservatives managed cooperation and exchanges based on “the 1992 Consensus” despite domestic controversy over its existence.
The paper traces the process of national division, civil war or war, democratization, and the end of the cold war, and compares development and changes in political actors’ perception of each South Korea and Taiwan to illustrate contrasts between Inter-Korean and Cross-Strait relations.