Directions and Challenges of Inter-Korean Disaster Cooperation in the Era of Climate Crisis: A Preliminary Study on the Application of Public Goods

As climate change intensifies, disasters have evolved into transboundary risks that exceed national borders. The Korean Peninsula, geographically and ecologically interconnected, is particularly vulnerable. Yet existing discussions on inter-Korean disaster cooperation remain confined to humanitarian or functionalist frameworks, lacking a robust theoretical basis for long-term sustainability. This study approaches inter-Korean disaster cooperation from a public choice perspective and reconceptualizes it as the provision of a transboundary public good. Disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery display non-rivalry and non-excludability, while failure on one side generates negative externalities for the other. Therefore, cooperation is not discretionary but structurally necessary. Through an analysis of North Korea’s disaster vulnerability, institutional response system, and cooperation demand, the study identifies key principles for institutionalizing joint disaster management. Framing disaster cooperation as a peninsula-wide public good provides theoretical grounding and policy implications for sustaining inter-Korean cooperation under conditions of political uncertainty.