• International Area Studies Review
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.550-572
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• 2009

This paper investigates the textile negotiations between Korea and the U.S. which Korea, as a weaker party in the bilateral trade negotiation, was recognized as making a good performance by Odell(1985). Using the documents of Korean governments at the time - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry - telegrams and reports from various sources the paper picks a leveling factor during the negotiations. In the paper, we used a dynamic concept of power for describing the negotiating power, and showed Korea succeeded in making the negotiation symmetric using the Special Cooperative Relationship(SCR) as one of the most conspicuous leveling factors during the textile negotiations with the U.S. The paper contributes to finding the factors that can be used in the negotiations with power asymmetry as a leveling factor for weaker country. Also, based on the findings from the paper, future negotiators can get insights on which factors be used, and how to use those factors for leveling the negotiations with a stronger counterpart.