Asia and Oceania

Korea, Republic of (South Korea)
Last reviewed: 1 June 2009

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INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

As a result of the Korean War, the ROK had strong links with Western countries, especially the US, and competed with the DPRK for formal links with non-aligned states. However, from around the time of the Seoul Olympics in 1988, the ROK also pursued formal links with the Communist bloc under President Roh Tae-woo's 'Northern Policy'. By the early 1990s, it had established diplomatic relations with most of the members of the former Communist bloc and had even developed thriving commercial relations with China, the DPRK's closest ally. As the ROK's economy grew, it became more active in multilateral fora: joining the UN in 1991 (concurrent with DPRK) and OECD in 1997, and hosting the third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in October 2000 and APEC Summit in 2005.

In recent years ROK has played a greater role on the international stage. At one stage it was the third largest contributor of troops to the coalition in Iraq and Korean forces also served in Afghanistan until recently, and have also participated in operations in East Timor, Lebanon and Nepal. Koreans are generally proud of the role that their soldiers are playing.

Inter-Korean relations

With the Korean War having been so bitterly fought, tension between DPRK and ROK remained high even after 1953. There were numerous armed clashes but, with so many families separated by Korea's division, the national dream of Korean reunification remained. In 1960, DPRK leader, Kim Il Sung, proposed pursuing reunification through confederation between equals, similar to China's 'one country, two systems', and, with minor refinements, this policy remains in place. In the early 1970s, the Koreas opened a Red Cross dialogue followed by political talks that produced the Joint Communiqué of July 1972 in which the ROK and DPRK agreed to work for peaceful reunification.

The militaries continue to face off against each other along the DMZ and naval clashes incurring significant loss of life occurred as recently as 1999 and 2002. However, these did not prevented a general thaw in recent years, as successive governments in Seoul pursued a policy of engagement.

After his inauguration in 1998, ROK President Kim Dae-jung decided to pursue dialogue and co-operation with the DPPK under his 'Sunshine Policy'. This aimed to reduce tension on the peninsula and encourage inter-Korean co-operation. This led to a Summit in Pyongyang between both leaders on 12-15 June 2000. This concluded with a Joint Declaration, in which the two sides agreed five common goals:

To work independently for national unification;
To recognise the common elements in the two sides' proposals for federation-confederation;
To co-operate to promote a balanced national economy;
To promote exchanges and co-operation; and
To work towards the settlement of some humanitarian issues by 15 August 2000.

Post-Summit, numerous meetings and Ministerial-level talks resulted in rapid growth in all forms of co-operation, including the re-connection of North-South rail links which are used on a daily basis on the east coast.

Progress in the inter-Korean dialogue slowed after the US presidential elections in 2000, with the DPRK questioning the Bush Administration’s cautious approach. President Bush’s ‘axis of evil’ speech in January 2002 provoked further DPRK response with the DPRK suspending contacts with the ROK shortly after. These were fairly rapidly resumed and began to improve following a call upon Kim Jong Il in April by ROK Senior Presidential Envoy, Lim Dong-won. This resulted in a joint press statement which said that 'both parties agreed to make concerted efforts to restore inter-Korean reconciliation' and set out a new timetable for the process.

On 29 June 2002 a naval skirmish occurred between the two parties, which resulted in the ROK losing a naval vessel and casualties on both sides. A subsequent investigation by the UN Military Armistice Commission considered the DPRK to have provoked the incident. On 25 July, the DPRK expressed regret for the incident. This significantly improved relations between the Koreas. The two sides held a further ministerial meeting on 12-14 August 2002 in Seoul, and during further talks in September, agreements on practical co-operation, including broader road and rail links, were announced. Throughout this period, there appeared to be a significant reduction of tension on the Korean Peninsula.

However, these improving relations suffered a major setback when the DPRK, in October 2002, admitted to the visiting US Assistant Secretary James Kelly that it had been pursuing a covert nuclear weapons programme.

On 12 February 2003, the IAEA found the DPRK in breach of nuclear safeguards agreements and adopted a second resolution, referring the matter to the UN Security Council. Later that month, the ROK and the US announced their plans to hold their annual joint military exercises in March, to which the DPRK responded with aggressive rhetoric. On 24 February and again on 10 March, the DPRK fired shore-to-ship missiles into the sea between the ROK and Japan. But they were not ballistic missiles and the international reaction was low-key.

Following his inauguration on 25 February 2003, the ROK President Roh Moo-hyun publicly announced his policy towards the DPRK. As under the previous administration's 'Sunshine Policy', the focus would be on peace and prosperity for the Korean Peninsula and the East Asian region. In a joint declaration following the US/ROK summit in May, President Roh stated that future inter-Korean exchanges and co-operation would be conducted in light of developments on the DPRK nuclear issue. The DPRK responded by calling into question the ROK’s commitment to the 15th June declaration between the two countries. Later in May, this led to the temporary break down of economic talks with the North stating that, 'immeasurable negative consequences' would befall the South if it persisted in raising the nuclear issue.

The ROK did not participate in trilateral talks held in April 2003 between the US, China and the DPRK in Beijing, to discuss the nuclear issue. However they participated in a round of six-party talks (also including the DPRK, Japan, Russia, China and the US) in August 2003. The Six-Party talks reconvened in 2004, with talks in February and June. Talks scheduled for September did not take place due to the North’s reluctance to participate, citing US hostile policies as the cause. In January 2005, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labelled the DPRK an ‘outpost of tyranny’ alongside Iran, Cuba, Burma, Belarus and Zimbabwe during her confirmation hearing and on 10 February 2005, the DPRK announced that it was suspending its participation in the talks indefinitely. The statement also repeated the DPRK’s assertion to have built nuclear weapons for self-defence. However the DPRK agreed to return to the talks in July 2005. A fourth round of talks, with a long recess, took place in July – September 2005 and produced a “statement of principles” in which all parties agreed to work through a series of steps towards a nuclear free Korean peninsula. Immediately after the agreement, the DPRK and US issued statements that showed the two countries had a very different understanding of the order in which the steps would be implemented. A fifth round was convened in November, but broke up amid rancour and the talks remained suspended for over a year, with the DPRK citing US ‘financial sanctions’ for its refusal to discuss implementation of the Joint Statement.

Recent events

In late October 2006, following trilateral discussions with the US and China in Beijing, DPRK announced its intention to return to the Six Party Talks. DPRK's belated decision to return to the talks, however, followed two major escalatory acts in the second half of 2006. On 5 July, DPRK test-fired a total of seven ballistic missiles of various types and ranges, including the long-range Taepodong-II, believed capable of reaching parts of the United States, but which failed shortly into its maiden flight. The launches met widespread international condemnation as a destabilising development for regional security and beyond. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1695 on 15 July 2006 condemning the launches. It further demanded that DPRK halt all activities related to its ballistic missile programme and re-affirm its 1999 moratorium on flight-testing.

On 9 October 2006 DPRK announced that it had conducted an underground nuclear explosive test in the country’s northeast. While the regime claimed this as a complete success, the size of the explosion was comparatively small and could have been a partial failure. The test met concerted and prompt international opposition, expressed through UN Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted unanimously on 15 October. Under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the resolution mandates co-operative action by states to prevent the provision of nuclear technology, large-scale weapons and luxury goods to DPRK. It further imposes an asset freeze and travel ban on persons related to DPRK’s nuclear-weapon programme and permits the inspection of cargo. DPRK’s Ambassador to the UN responded by deriding the resolution as 'gangster-like' on the one hand, while reiterating that DPRK’s intention to denuclearize the Korean peninsula through dialogue and negotiation remained unchanged.

The fifth round of Six-Party Talks finished with a meeting on 8-13 February 2007 at which the Parties renewed their commitment to the Joint Statement of 19 September 2005 under a new agreement. Specifically, the DPRK agreed to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility and allow inspections by IAEA personnel. In return, the Parties agreed to provide economic, energy and humanitarian assistance to the DPRK up to the equivalent of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil (HFO).The Agreement established 5 Working Groups tasked with formulating plans to implement the Joint Statement. They will focus on DPRK-US relations, DPRK-Japan relations, denuclearisation, economy and energy co-operation and Northeast Asia Peace and Security Mechanism.

The meetings took place as scheduled but the shutdown of the Yongbyon facility and shipment of oil were delayed due to problems in arranging for the transfer of DPRK funds that had been frozen in a bank in Macau. This problem was not fully resolved until mid-June 2007, when the DPRK invited IAEA inspectors who were able to verify that the nuclear facility was shut down on 16 July 2007, just after the first shipment of oil was delivered by South Korea. Following further shipments of oil and meetings of the Working Groups, the DPRK ageed at the Six Party Talks in Beijing on 3 October 2007 to disable all existing nuclear facilities - three major ones by the end of this year - and to provide, also by the end of the year, a complete declaration of all its nuclear programmes and facilities. The DPRK also reaffirmed its commitment not to transfer nuclear materials, technology, or know-how. In return, it will get further substantial energy assistance and the prospect of further progress on normalisation of relations with the US and Japan.

A significant recent development in inter-Korean relations was the Inter-Korean Summit that took place in Pyongyang on 2-4 October 2007 - the first since 2000 and only the second ever. The two sides agreed on the need to move towards a peace treaty to end the Korean War, and on expanded economic co-operation. There were a range of follow-up meetings to thrash out the detail although the Roh Administration had little time to implement agreements.

During his successful campaign for the presidential election on 19 December 2007, The new Lee Myung-bak had suggested that his policy towards the DPRK would stress reciprocity but that, if the DPRK went ahead with denuclearisation, he would push a plan to increase per capita GNP there to $3,000 (from about $1,900). After his inauguration on 25 February 2008, President Lee appointed several senior officials who had been involved in previous administrations’ engagement with the DPRK and it look as if there would be no major change in policy. However, the DPRK interpreted some statements made by the new Administrations leaders in the worst possible way and also condemned the ROK for voting for a resolution on the DPRK at the UN Human Rights Council in March. Since April, the DPRK media has continued to criticise President Lee in vehement terms and, despite the ROK choosing not to respond to these attacks and wait for the DPRK to reengage, there are no signs of this yet.

Regional tensions are currently heightened following the UN Security Council’s condemnation of the attempted launch of a satellite in breach of UN Security CR Resolution 1718 by North Korea on 5 April 2009. In response, North Korea withdrew from the Six Party Talks and threatened a further nuclear test and ballistic missile tests. On 25 May 2009, North Korea announced that it had carried out an underground nuclear test and carried out a number of short range missile test-launches.

On 26 May, South Korea announced that it would join the US led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which aims to interdict vessels suspected of carrying nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and materials. North Korea has responded by repeating earlier threats that it would regard South Korean PSI membership as an act of aggression and would respond militarily to any attempt to intercept its ships. It has also said that it will no longer be bound by the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement.

ROK's relations with the USA

Since the Korean War, the ROK's most important relationship has been with the United States. As well as defending it militarily, the USA was the major provider of economic assistance to the ROK and was the ROK's largest trading partner. ROK forces fought alongside US forces during the Vietnam War. Although the US was originally the dominant partner in the relationship, as the Korean economy grew the relationship became more balanced. Due to perceived US dominance and Korean national pride, there are sometimes signs of friction that have, at times, been exploited by more radical elements. But relations remain close, involving policy co-ordination, especially on DPRK, and the ROK has actively supported the US war against terrorism, despatching the third-largest international troop contingent to Iraq.

During the 2002 presidential election campaign, however, a wave of anti-Americanism swept through the ROK. Many people called for a revision of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which regulates the legal status of US forces stationed in Korea. This was mainly in reaction to the accidental death of two ROK schoolgirls, killed by a US army vehicle in June 2002, and contributed in part to Roh Moo-hyun's presidential victory.

Friction between the two countries has been claimed by critics of the Roh Administration to represent a weakening of the alliance. In June 2004, the US declared its intention by end-2005 to reduce by one third its 37,000 troops stationed in the ROK. The location of the remaining US forces would also be moved further south from the DMZ). But at their regular Summit meetings, the two Presidents reconfirmed that the alliance is strong. The two sides have also managed to conclude agreements on a range of outstanding issues including the return of wartime operational control to the ROK military, the relocation of the US Embassy and a Free Trade Agreement.

Since his inauguration in February 2008, President Lee Myung-bak has committed himself to restoring strong relations with the US. At the 18-19 April Summit at Camp David, the first for an ROK president, Presidents Lee and Bush agreed to strengthen the two countries’ alliance in the military, economic, diplomatic, political and cultural sectors. President Bush also accepted an invitation to visit the ROK in July 2008.

ROK's relations with Russia

After the Seoul Olympics, the ROK and Soviet Union established trade offices in each other's capitals and then established full diplomatic relations in September 1990. With the ROK's lack of resources and the undeveloped Soviet Far East, the two economies seem complementary but, owing to an accumulation of trade debts by the Soviet/Russian side, relations have only developed slowly.

ROK's relations with China

Commercial relations with China developed at a relatively early stage mainly because of easier communications but also because over 2 million ethnic Koreans are living there. Although it was the DPRK's closest ally, China established diplomatic relations with the ROK in August 1992 and commercial links between the two countries have continued to thrive. China has become the ROK’s largest trading partner and a major destination for ROK investment. Increased interest in China has also led to a rapid rise in the number of Korean children learning Chinese with it now being the second most widely studied foreign language, after English.

President Lee wants to strengthen ROK-China relations by holding regular Summit and plans to hold the first during his State Visit to China on 27-30 May 2008.

ROK's relations with Japan

Despite the normalisation of relations in 1965, links with Japan have remained strained because of memories of the colonial period and, until 1998, there were formal restrictions on Japanese exports to the ROK. Relations warmed after a visit to Tokyo by President Kim Dae-jung in October 1998 with the restrictions being steadily lifted. But, when the ROK what it perceived to be a resurgence of Japanese nationalism in mid-2001, relations cooled again. ROK civic groups started to boycott links with Japan. The public also protested against, and called for a halt to Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni shrine, which commemorates Japanese war dead, including some 'Class-A' war criminals from the Second World War. The two countries worked together to ensure the success of the World Cup, which took place in June 2002, and when President Roh Moo-hyun visited Japan in June 2003, it seemed that relations would continue to improve with a plan to celebrate 2005 as the Korea-Japan Friendship Year. But relations soured again following a number of Japanese actions, including Prime Minister Koizumi’s continued visits to Yasukuni, revisions of Japanese history textbooks that seemed to whitewash the severity of Japan's colonisation and a push by Japan of its claim to the Tokdo Islets. President Roh responded by refusing to hold regular Summit meetings with Prime Minister Koizumi although thesre was a Summit soon after Prime Minister Abe took office in Tokyo.

President Lee stated that he would focus on a forward-looking relationship with Japan, rather than the past, before taking up office. The then Prime Minister Fukuda attended his inauguration ceremony. The two leaders met immediately after this and agreed to resume regular Summits. President Lee followed up on this by visiting Tokyo on 20-21 April 2008 with the new Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso visiting Seoul on 11-12 January 2009.

ROK's relations with the UK

The UK recognised the ROK when it was founded in 1948 and was quick to support UN actions on the peninsula during the Korean War. The UK also played a full part in the ROK's reconstruction and British know-how helped in the development of the shipbuilding and automotive industries. The UK and ROK have had full diplomatic relations since 1957. The strength of the relationship is reflected in the number of high-level visits in recent years. Kim Dae-jung's first overseas visit as President was to London in April 1998 to attend the ASEM II Summit, and he visited again in 2001. HM The Queen made a State Visit to the ROK in April 1999 and the Duke of York visited in 2001 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UK involvement in the Korean War, and again in November 2005 to promote British business.

The Prime Minister visited Seoul in July 2003, as part of a tour of the Far East. His visit was the first by a major Western leader after the inauguration of President Roh Moo-hyun. The two leaders held extensive talks on a range of issues. Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott visited the ROK in October 2006. He met with Prime Minister Han, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance & Economy Minister Kwon and then Foreign Minister (and next UNSG) Ban.

Other recent Ministerial visits included, in 2003, Baroness Scotland (Lord Chancellor's Department) and Dr Lewis Moonie (Former Minister, MoD). Bill Rammell visited to attend President Roh Moo-hyun's inauguration ceremony in February. Former FCO Minister Ian Pearson visited Seoul from 22 – 23 September 2005. He met with two Cabinet Ministers and two Vice-Ministers as well as British business and Korean companies investing in the UK. Ian McCartney, former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Trade, visited in July 2006, and Margaret Hodge, former Minister of State for Industry, visited in September 2006. Bill Rammell as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs visited most recently in March 2009.

President Roh and the First Lady visited the UK in December 2004 at the invitation of HM The Queen - the first State Visit to the UK by a Korean President. President Roh’s programme included substantive talks with the Prime Minister, a High Technology Forum, and banquets at Buckingham Palace and Guildhall. The visit was considered to be a great success.

There are strong commercial links between the two countries. Although the financial crisis hit British exports to Korea hard and much ROK investment in the UK was put on hold, it led to an increase in British investment in the ROK. (See trade and investment links with the UK, below.)

Cultural and education links with the UK are also thriving. The number of Korean students currently studying in the UK is approximately 20,000. The British Council has been in Seoul since 1973, and now receives over 700 visitors a day, with unprecedented interest in its services.