Answer:
The policy emerged largely in the context
of the growing economic gap between
the two Koreas, where the South was
moving in the path of strengthening
its nation powered by the economic
prosperity achieved from president Park
Chung-hee's administration in the 1970s
throughout the 1990s while the North
was falling into severe economic decline.
Facing bankruptcy and spending an
excessive portion of its budget on its
military along with its nuclear program,
North Korea faced widespread starvation
among its people at the time Sunshine
Policy was aimed at mitigating this gap
in economic power and restoring lobst
communication between the two nations.
Furthermore, the background to South
Korea's decision to engage North
Korea through cooperation rather than
maintaining a conservative stance in the
past hints to a change in the domestic
politics as well. According to Son
Key-young, Sunshine Policy emerged
ultimately as an evidence of evolving
South Korean national identity since the
Cold War which "ushered in an era of
unprecedented confusion in South Korea
over whether to define North Korea as
friend or foe
