South Korea and the Socialist Countries: The Politics of Trade

154 Pages·1990·15.518 MB·English

by  Dan C. Sanford (auth.)

SOUTH KOREA AND 1HE SOCIALIST COUNTRIES
Also by Dan C. Sanford
THE FUTURE ASSOCIATION OF TAIWAN WITH THE PEOPLE'S
REPUBLIC OF CHINA
South Korea and the
Socialist Countries
The Politics of Trade
Dan C. Sanford
Whitworth College
Spokane. Washington
M
MACMILLAN
©Dan C. Sanford 1990
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990 978-0-333-53674-2
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First published 1990
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndrnills, Basingstoke, Hampshire R021 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Sanford, Dan C.
South Korea and the socialist countries: the politics of
trade.
1. South Korea. Foreign trade
I. Tide
382.'09519'5
ISBN 978-1-349-11944-8 ISBN 978-1-349-11942-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-11942-4
Contents
Preface by Donald N. Clark vii
Foreword by Soo-Eon Moon x
Note on the Romanization of Korean Proper Nouns xiii
List of Acronyms xiv
Acknowledgements xv
Introduction 1
1 Trade Contacts 8
The People's Republic of China 8
Eastern Europe 16
The Soviet Union and Vietnam 18
2 Exploring the Commercial Incentives 23
Economic Factors for Koreans 14
The Case of Eastern Europe 26
The Case of the Soviet Union 29
The Case of China 32
3 Chinese and Soviet Political Strategies 34
China's Strategic Outlook 35
The Soviet Strategic Outlook 42
4 Northern Diplomacy; ROK Strategies in Trade 48
Using Trade to Change North Korea 51
Assessment of Intent 55
The Relationship of Trade to Cross-
Recognition and Reunification 57
5 Response to the Northern Policy 60
Domestic Concerns 60
The External Response 64
6 ROK's New Policy in the Regional and
Domestic Contexts 70
The Regional Environment 71
The Domestic Environment 82
v
Contents vi
7 ROK Socialist Trade as a Transnational
Phenomenon 90
The Transnationalist Paradigm 90
North-South Reunification 99
Appendixes 1: Korea's Trade with Communist
Countries 104
Appendix 2: Chronology 106
Notes 111
Bibliography 128
Index 135
Preface
Donald N. Clark
The opening of contacts between the Republic of Korea and the Soviet
Union, China, and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe is a welcome
development. Ever since the Korean War, South Korea has been rigidly
anti-Communist. The military confrontation with North Korea has over
shadowed everything, making Seoul's foreign policy an artifact of the
Cold War. Recently, however, with the lessening of East-West tensions
and the adoption of flexible new policies in Korea and the socialist
countries, exciting new possibilities have developed for Korea in the areas
of diplomacy, cultural contact, and trade.
These developments are important because they could lead to a
redefinition of power relationships in the region, a diminished need for
American military intervention, and even new movement in the area of
reunification of North and South Korea. They offer hope for an active
Korean role in regional development and the creation of international
markets and trade zones which could not even have been imagined only
a few years ago. At the very least, they promise a healthier and more
peaceful environment. But they also carry risks. In the "Nordpolitik"
euphoria which has swept South Korea since the 1988 Summer Olympics,
these risks require sober reflection and analysis.
The shift in South Korean attitudes was most apparent around the time
of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. South Korean leaders skillfully
exploited the games for political and economic advantage. Where a
long-standing prohibition on "cross-recognition" had isolated Seoul from
the Communist world and Pyongyang from the West, the Olympics gave
South Korea a valuable opportunity to begin face-to-face discussions with
Pyongyang's allies, beginning with sports and progressing quickly to trade,
communications and transportation, and even, in the case of Hungary, to
full diplomatic recognition.
Dan Sanford observed many of these changes from his vantage point as
a Fulbright scholar in Korea in 1988. He brings impressive skills to this
discussion. He started out as an analyst of East Asian international relations
more than twenty years ago with a doctoral dissertation on U.S.-China
relations, and then wrote a book entitled The Future Association of Taiwan
and the People's Republic of China (University of California Press, 1981).
As professor of Political Science at Whitworth College, he is one of the
vii
viii Preface by Donald N. Clark
Pacific coast's leading scholars in the international relations of East Asia.
As a scholar/teacher he is gifted at communicating not only with students
but also with general audiences, and as a college administrator he has built
programs in faculty and student exchanges with East Asia and has traveled
widely in the region. He is unusual in his pursuit of the perspective which
he demonstrates here, for there are few East Asianists who can discuss
Korea in any depth, and few Koreanists who have the broader view.
Sanford explains how the process of detente in Korea has involved the
building up of informal links and vested interests in trade. This began in
the early eighties with a trickle of goods being exchanged with China and
Eastern Europe through Hong Kong and other third parties. It was entirely
pragmatic, driven by economic considerations. For example, Korea needed
Chinese coal from Shantung. China needed a nearby source of inexpensive
electrical appliances. As the economic logic overtook the memories of
the Korean War, deals were struck and the goods began to flow. By
the 1988 the trade was complex and had produced some interesting
anomalies: for example, the Korean joint-venture partner (Daewoo) of
an American-owned multinational (General Motors) was negotiating to
open a plant in Communist China to make sports cars to compete with
Japanese exports. That such a thing could be contemplated was striking
proof that the era of the Cold War was ending on the Korean peninsula.
As Sanford tells us, however, the sticking point continues to be the
standoff between the rival governments in Seoul and Pyongyang. In this
book, he has used his perspective as an expert in the international relations
of East Asia to put the North-South impasse in its new international context
He finds that President Roh Tae Woo's attempt in July 1988 to redefine
the terms of North-South contact reflected new realities in South Korean
politics, where the government was under intensifying pressure to make
meaningful gestures toward unification. On the surface, Roh seemed to
be opening the door to unheard-of kinds of contact including trade. It
soon developed, however, that a conservative backlash in Seoul forced a
retreat. "Authorized" South Koreans were encouraged to visit the North,
but dissidents who made "unauthorized" contacts were severely punished.
The ambivalence was exploited by North Korea, which invited leading
South Koreans on "unauthorized" visits and forced Roh to appear insincere
when he tried to block them. The regime of Kim II-sung also kept to its
basic line of demanding preconditions for talks about demilitarizing the
peninsula, including the withdrawal in advance of foreign troops from
South Korea. The Americans not only refuse to leave but also insist on
carrying on elabomte military maneuvers which the North Koreans deem
provocative. The prospects in the military/political realm, therefore, remain
Preface by Donald N. Clark IX
bleak, and whatever progress is to be achieved must be achieved in some
other realm.
Sanford examines a number of theories and scenarios concerning the
intentions of both sides in the North-South confrontation and concludes
that things really have changed for the better: that there is real movement
after all the years of posturing. He is especially optimistic about the part
to be played by trade. He fears the rise of far-right and far-left elements
in South Korea and wonders if anything can be predicted about North
Korean behavior after the passing of Kim II-sung. But for the time being
he points to signs that rigid ideology is giving way to a new pragmatism,
self-interested and based in the drive for economic development which
powers all the countries in the region. They are acquiring a regional
and trans-national outlook which promises to liberate them from their
traditional dependence upon the superpowers. Sanford argues that stability
is the key ingredient which needs to be maintained in order for all of this
to proceed constructively, but that if security can be maintained, "a healthy
diffusion of political interests" is possible, and perhaps even likely.
This book frames the discussion for the general reader. What the author
provides here is a careful analysis of the way economic interests have bro
ken down a dangerous international confrontation in the Korean peninsula.
No one can predict whether the process will lead to reunification or even
a successful federation of the two Koreas. But recent events suggest that
East Asia at last has started moving on a road that does not lead to military
conflict but to a peaceful pooling of interests. Sanford's carefully reasoned
study tells us that journey is well begun.
DONALD N. CLARK
Associate Professor of History
Trinity University