The Rise and Fall of Detente on the Korean Peninsula, : A Critical Oral History

Transcription

1 The Rise and Fall of Detente on the Korean Peninsula, : A Critical Oral History For the July 2010 Conference organized by: The North Korea International Documentation Project The University of North Korean Studies With Financial Support from: The Korea Foundation North Korea International Documentation Project Woodrow Wilson Center One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C nkidp@wilsoncenter.org Tel: (202)

2 Inter-Korean Relations Chronology of Events July At a speech delivered in Guam, President Richard Nixon informally announces the Nixon Doctrine, a new American foreign policy whereby the United States expected its allies to take care of their own military defense, but that the U.S. would aid in defense when needed. October After nearly two years of pursuing an adventurist reunification policy, Pyongyang announces that the policy of peaceful reunification would be renewed. 1-5 December Central Committee Plenum of Korean Workers Party held. It is announced that the 5 th Party Congress will be held in October of December KAL flight from Gangneung to Seoul is hijacked and taken to Pyongyang February President Nixon issues a report to Congress confirming the Nixon Doctrine. 26 March The Nixon administration informs the South Korean government of its plan to withdraw 20,000 troops, or one-third of its forces in South Korea 27 March Kim Dae-Jung, the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) Presidential candidate writes a letter expressing his political views and concerns to Vice President Spiro Agnew after his visit to Washington D.C. 5-7 April Zhou Enlai, Premier of the Republic of China, visits Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Il Sung expresses his gratitude for Beijing s support during the Korean War and discusses shared Sino-DPRK interests and concerns. The visit worries the Soviets, who hope not to be outdone by China and subsequently send several diplomatic representatives to Pyongyang through the summer. 5 June A South Korean naval broadcasting vessel is attacked and captured by the North in the Yellow Sea south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL). 15 June Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, Head of the State of Cambodia and Chairman of the Cambodian National Unification Front, visits Pyongyang. Kim Il Sung renews his support for the Cambodian people s struggle against the United States.

3 22 June A bomb explodes at the main gate of Seoul National Cemetery. Evidence indicates that the bomb was supposed to go off during a presidential visit to the cemetery marking the anniversary of the Korean War. 28 June A North Korean agent boat is discovered and disabled by the South Korean army, navy and air units near Incheon harbor. The North Korean crew escapes to a nearby island, most die in a firefight later in the day. 3 July Korean Foreign Minister Choi Kyu-Hah meets with U.S. officials and expresses his objection to U.S. troop withdrawal. 9 July The withdraw of 20,000 U.S. troops from the Republic of Korea is officially announced by the Nixon administration 23 July President Park delivers a speech at the ROK National War College graduation ceremony opposing the withdrawal of US troops for the first time in public. 7 August President Park and General John H. Michaelis meet about troop withdrawals, the modernization of the ROK military and bilateral U.S.-ROK talks. 15 August In the Liberation Day speech, President Park cautiously proposes a new unification policy, which reflects South Korea s desire to engage in peaceful competition with the North. Soviet Deputy Premier Mazurov visits Pyongyang and is coolly received. 24 August U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew meets President Park in Seoul 7 September Prime Minister Chong Il-Kwon delivers a statement to the National Assembly to reassure the government s absolute authority over the issues of unification without being swayed by public opinion 1 October President Park delivers a speech on the 22 nd Anniversary of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces Day. He emphasizes the importance of the continued strengthening of the ROK Armed Forces 16 October At a press conference, Kim Dae-Jung harshly criticizes the Park government and outlines his principal policies that he will advocate during his campaign 21 October USSR and allies create a draft resolution discussing the issues regarding the admission of both North and South Korea into the United Nations. Late October- Kim Dae-Jung (unofficially) campaigns heavily as the NDP candidate for Early November president, drawing large crowds and discussing specific policies of the DRP publically on the streets.

4 2-13 November At the Fifth Korean Workers Party (KWP) Congress, Kim Il Sung announces the successful completion of the First Seven-Year Plan ( ) after a three-year extension. He announces a new Six-Year Plan to take place from 1971 to November First Plenum of the KWP Central Committee is held in Pyongyang 14 November Kim Dae-Jung delivers speech slamming President Park s government for corruption of high-ranking officials, KCIA power, and corruption in the Homeland Reserve Force. 3 December North Korean Major Pak Sun-Kuk crash lands a MiG-15 in South Korea and defects. 4 December Vice President Agnew and Foreign Minister Choi Kyu-Ha meet and discuss aid, fishing and poaching problems, and, briefly, North Korea December President Park changes out his cabinet members, including the replacement of KCIA Director Kim Kye-Won by Lee Hurak 27 December US Charge d affaires and Lee Hu-Rak meet over breakfast, discussing the option of allowing North Korean Major Park to decide where he wants to remain if the DPRK allows the KAL crew and passengers abducted in December, 1970 to do the same January Kim Il Sung delivers New Year Address praising the accomplishment of the past year and encouraging the North Korean people to reach the goal of the new six-year plan 11 January At a New Year press conference, President Park Chung Hee indicates that the ROK is willing to improve relations with non-hostile Communist countries 24 February South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs lifts restrictions on social contact with non-hostile communist countries 28 March The North Korean mission to Sri Lanka is expelled from Colombo on suspicion that the North had supported armed anti-government guerrillas 8-14 April At the Fifth Session of the fourth Supreme Peoples Assembly, North Korean Foreign Minister Heo Dam presents the 8 Points, announcing the DPRK s policy of reunifying the peninsula through peaceful means, mostly a reiteration of the formulations dating back to 1963 and revived in 1969.

5 19-23 April Second Plenum of the KWP Central Committee is held in Pyongyang 27 April Park Chung Hee wins presidential election, defeating Kim Dae-Jung by a margin April Sixth Session of the Fourth Supreme People s Assembly is held in Pyongyang May Kim Dae-Jung is injured in a car accident, thought to possibly be an assassination attempt 9-15 June Kim Il Sung welcomes Party and Government Delegation of the Romanian Socialist Republic headed by Nicolae Ceausescu, Secretary General of the Romanian Communist Party. 23 June US National Security decision memorandum assures no plans for more redeployment of troops from South Korea beyond the 20,000 to be completed by June 30, June-4 July US Vice President Spiro Agnew visits Seoul 3 July Soviet Deputy Premier Mazurov heads a delegation to Pyongyang celebrating the tenth anniversary of Soviet-DPRK Mutual Assistance Treaty. 9 July US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger visits Beijing 15 July US President Richard Nixon s trip to China is formally announced 26 July President Park calls for National Unity during a speech to the National Assembly where he stresses the tensions that surround Korea. 30 July During a visit to Beijing, DRPK Vice Premier Kim Il requests that Chinese officials deliver a different 8 Points to Henry Kissinger which deal with international issues and the withdrawal of U.S. troop from Korea. 12 August At a press conference Choe Doo-Seon, the president of the Red Cross organization of South Korea, proposes a meeting between representatives from the organizations of the Red Cross in the North and South to discuss the reunification of families divided by the Korean War. 14 August North Korea s Red Cross accepts the South Korean proposal to hold talks. 23 August South Korean special unit 684, a group of death-row inmates trained on Silmi Island to assassinate Kim Il Sung in revenge for 1968 Blue House Raid assassination attempt against Park Chung Hee, mutinied upon learning that their mission had been scuttled and that they would be killed.

6 2 September President Nixon approves in principle the five-year Korea Modernization Program September Kim Il Sung says that he will not abide by any resolution passed by the United Nations as the organization was a tool of American imperialists 20 September After 5 meetings of messengers from the North and South, the first round of preliminary Red Cross negotiations begin. 21 September South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Yong-Sik meets with the Secretary of State William P. Rogers to discuss President Nixon s visit to China, North/South Talks, and South Korean troop withdrawal from Vietnam 6 October Third Session of the Preliminary Talks between the North-South Red Cross Delegations 15 October President Park garrisons army units in Seoul and troops occupy ten college campuses 20 October Henry Kissinger meets with Zhou En-Lai for the second time. 22 October Zhou En-Lai delivers Kim Il s 8 Points to Henry Kissinger, who responds negatively. 25 October At the 26 th UN General Assembly, the People s Republic of China becomes the lawful representative of China to the United Nations and one of the five permanent members of the Security Council. 27 October Sixth Session of the Preliminary Talks between the North-South Red Cross Delegations 1-3 November Kim Il Sung makes a secret trip to Beijing November Third Plenum of the KWP Central Committee is held in Pyongyang 20 November Secret meeting between KCIA agent Jung Hongjin and KWP member Kim Deokhyun opens up new line of communication between North and South governments. 6 December President Park declares a state of national emergency as a lead up to the declaration of the Fourth Republic. 10 December 12 th preliminary conference in Panmunjeom between delegates from the North and South regarding an upcoming Red Cross Society s Conference.

7 17 December 13 th preliminary conference in Panmunjeom between delegates from the North and South regarding inter-korean relations January Kim Il Sung delivers New Year Address reviewing the accomplishments of the past year and expressing hope for the coming year. Kim briefly mentions the possibility of the Red Cross Talks between the North and the South and harshly criticizes the South Korean leaders. January Kim Il Sung states that he had always respected the United Nations and had never violated its charter when a UN resolution becomes favorable to the North. 10 January Kim expresses in an interview with the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun that President Nixon s visit to China was an admission of defeat on the part of the United States. 10 January Kim Il Sung proposes transformation of the truce agreement in Korea into a peace treaty between the North and South. 26 January North Korea sends representatives to Beijing. 29 January 14 th preliminary North-South Red Cross conference is held in Panmunjeom. 1 February Kim Dae-Jung visits Washington D.C. and meets with Assistant Secretary of East Asian and Pacific bureau Marshall Green. Kim criticizes the state of emergency in Korea and accuses President Park of damaging US-ROK relations. 25 February The PRC embassy in Paris organizes a friendship meeting with the DPRK s visiting Mansudae ensemble 21 February US President Richard Nixon visits China for one week. Remnants of the January North Korean Delegation attempt to meet with U.S. officials, but are denied by the Chinese government. 27 February The Shanghai communiqué is issued by the United States and the PRC 7 March A preliminary conference is held to confirm letters from trusted officials guaranteeing the legitimacy of each delegation and to begin to set up high level official visits 7-9 March Zhou Enlai visits Pyongyang to update Kim Il Sung about the recent development of Sino-U.S. relations. Zhou Enlai informed Kim Il Sung that Nixon will not tolerate Japan s intervention in Taiwan and the North s intervention in the South.

8 10-22 March Series of preliminary conferences are held in Panmunjeom between the North and South to discuss high level official visits 23 March President Park sends a letter to President Nixon requesting greater financial aid for the South Korean army modernization project 28 March Jung Hongjin, Director of Conference Management of the South Korean Red Cross, arrives in Pyongyang for a meeting with Kim Yeongju, Director of Organization and Guidance Department for the KWP, Kim Joong-Lin, Secretary of the KWP Central Committee, and Kim Deokhyun, Chief Officer of the Politburo of the KWP Central Committee, to discuss the issue of peaceful unification. 31 March Jung Hongjin meets with Kim Yeongju, Kim Joong-Lin and Kim Deokhyun in Pyongyang again. 6 April President Park warns against North Korean naval threat and calls the current negotiations a North Korean Peace Offensive 15 April Kim Il Sung s 60 th birthday. Moscow awards Kim the Order of Lenin in honor of his sixtieth birthday, but he does not physically receive the award April Lee Hurak, Director of KCIA meets with Kim Deokhyun in Seoul to discuss the issue of unification. 2-5 May Lee Hurak meets with Kim Yeongju, KWP Director of Organization and Guidance, in Pyongyang 4 May Lee Hurak secretly meets with Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang 26 May Kim Il Sung speaks with correspondents from the New York Times. He points out that the differences between the North and the South should not be an obstacle in the realization of national unification and the reuniting of the native land. 29 May Pak Seongcheol, accompanied by Ryu Jang-Sik and Kim Deokhyun, meets with Park Chung Hee inside the Blue House from May 29 th to June 1 st 21 June Kim Il Sung tells Selig S. Harrison, a Correspondent of the Washington Post, that North Korea is willing to reduce the armed forces and sign a peace treaty between the North and the South assuming that it would lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea. Kim also expresses his desire to meet with Park Chung Hee. 30 June Agreement made to establish direct telephone line between Pyongyang and Seoul

9 1-6 July Fourth Plenum of the KWP Central Committee is held in Pyongyang. The two major items on the agenda are: 1) the implementation of the party s policy on the peaceful unification of the country after the 3 rd Plenary Session, 2) The implementation of compulsory 10-grade-schooling 4 July A Joint Communiqué is issued between the DPRK and the ROK under three fundamental principles of autonomy, peaceful unification, and national unity, leading to the organization of the Inter-Korean Coordinating Committee. 17 July DPRK Deputy Foreign Minister, Li Man-Seok, meets with the ambassadors of the European socialist countries and orally presents the progress of Red Cross talks between the North and the South. 26 July The Red Cross talks stall during the 24 th round of preliminary talks due to North Korean demand for representatives of political parties be invited to the plenary talks 11 August The 25 th Round of preliminary talks is held August Kim Il Sung secretly visits China to discuss North Korea s foreign policy and new reunification strategies 30 August First Plenary Red Cross talks between North-South delegations occur in Pyongyang 13 September The second plenary session of the DPRK and ROK Red Cross Committees is held in Seoul. 17 September Kim Il Sung insists in an interview with Japanese reporters that the United Nations must debate the Korean reunification question 29 September Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei signs the Joint Communiqué of the Government of Japan and the Government of the PRC, normalizing relations between the two countries. 16 October ROK Prime Minister Kim Jong-Pil informs US Ambassador Habib of plans to declare a State of Emergency 17 October President Park declares martial law based on the dangerous realities of the international situation, dissolves the National Assembly and suspends the Constitution. Mid-October Kim Dae-Jung goes into exile in Japan to protest Park s state of emergency. 21 October North Korean economic team arrives in Japan.

10 The North and South announce KCIA chief Lee Hurak would travel to Pyongyang to meet with Kim Il Sung and top level North Korean officials on November 2 nd. Further the North would send a top-level negotiator to Seoul shortly thereafter October The third plenary session of the Red Cross talks is held. North Korea demands the elimination of social, political, and statutory obstacles to the talks in South Korea 23 October Ambassador Habib sends a telegram to Washington in which he advocates a policy of disassociation distancing the US from Park s actions. Washington assents to this policy in a response three days later October Fifth Plenum of the KWP Central Committee is held in Pyongyang 2-4 November Coordinating Committee meeting between North-South delegations in Pyongyang 3 November Lee Hurak speaks with Kim Il Sung on economic, military, and cultural cooperation between the Koreas. North-South delegation discusses reunification plans 13 November Fourth Red Cross Plenary Talks between North-South delegations in Seoul 22 November The 4 th session of Red Cross negotiations is held in Seoul. North Korean Deputy Foreign Minster Lee Man-Seok notes the meeting as a class struggle. 30 November Meeting of the North-South Coordinating Committee in Seoul -2 December 23 December Park Chung Hee is elected unanimously by the National Conference of Unification December Pyongyang announces that, There cannot be such problems that intercourse and collaboration between the north and the south can be realized first in some fields and put off in other fields, and can be conducted in some fields and cannot be undertaken in some other fields. 27 December President Park s Yushin Constitution is promulgated in a heavily rigged plebiscite December Sixth Plenum of the KWP Central Committee is held in Pyongyang

11 25-28 December The Fifth Supreme People s Assembly is held concerning the socialist constitution of the DPRK January Kim Il Sung delivers New Year Address evaluating the accomplishments of the past year and complimenting the North Korean people for hard work. Kim also states that there has been a significant improvement in the unification process. 12 January Park Chung Hee formally announces the Heavy and Chemical Industries Promotion Plan. It aims at a massive buildup in six strategic industries: iron and steel, shipbuilding, chemicals, electronics, nonferrous metals, and machinery. 15 February Foreign Minister Kim Yong-Shik announces South Korea s abandonment of the Hallstein doctrine. Seoul seeks relations with states recognizing the North and will not break relations with those dealing with the North 22 February Foreign Minister Kim Yong-Shik and Ambassador Kim Dong-Jo meet with Secretary of State William Rogers, discussing Vietnam, DPRK admission into the U.N., and other issues. 23 February Foreign Minister Kim Yong-Shik and Ambassador Kim Dong-Jo meet with Vice President Spiro Agnew and staff. 28 February A Joint Communiqué is issued by the U.S. and the PRC in Shanghai March Second meeting of the North-South Coordinating Committee is held in Pyongyang April The North s legislature, the Supreme People s Assembly, sends a telegram to Congress requesting US lawmakers to support the removal of troops from the peninsula April Second Session of the Fifth Supreme People s Assembly is held in Pyongyang April Kim Il Sung delivers a speech at a mass meeting in Pyongyang to welcome Samdec Norodom Sihnaouk. Kim criticizes the U.S. involvement in the North- South negotiations and asks South Korea to follow the spirit of July 4 Joint Communiqué of April South-North Executive Council meet, but makes no progress 5 May North Korea is admitted into the International Parliamentary Union (Inter- Parliamentary Union), a forum for political multilateral negotiations with permanent observer status at the United Nations.

12 23 May Executive Counsel of the South-North Coordinating Committee meet June Third Red Cross North-South Coordinating Committee meeting is held in Seoul 23 June President Park announces the June 23 Declaration with an attempt to open diplomatic relations with any country regardless of political ideology or social orientations, and expresses his willingness to have both North Korea and South Korea enter the United Nations as separate entities. Meanwhile, Kim Il Sung announces his Five Points for peaceful reunification. 24 June At a meeting of the Political Committee of the Central Committee Kim Il Sung condemns Park s proposal for separate admission to the U.N. as a way to perpetuate the division of Korea 8 August The KCIA abducts and attempts to assassinate Kim Dae-Jung in Tokyo. 13 August Kim Dae-Jung is released by his captors near his home in Seoul. 28 August The North Korea delegation of the North-South Coordinating Committee announces that they are no longer interested in attending meetings of the Coordinating Committee, citing the attempted assassination of Kim Dae-Jung as their reasoning September Seventh Plenum of the KWP Central Committee is held in Pyongyang. 29 September A Joint Communiqué is issued between Japan and the PRC in Shanghai. 2 October The plenary meeting for the 28 th Session of the UN general assembly decides that the dialogue between North and South will not benefit from outside interference 19 October A prominent Seoul National University law professor, Tsche Chong-Kil, is tortured to death. 22 November US successfully evades the Korea Question at the 18 th UN General Assembly 28 November Red Cross representatives of South and North meet at Panmunjeom January President Park declares Emergency Measures to deal with domestic political unrest. 18 January South Korea proposes Non-Aggression Pact with North.

13 28 January North Korea rejects the Non-Aggression Pact. 15 February North Korea sinks a South Korean fishing ship in international waters February Eighth Plenum of the KWP Central Committee is held in Pyongyang. 4 March Kim Il Sung hosts the President of Algeria in Pyongyang. 25 March Pyongyang proposes direct negotiations to Washington, setting a foreign policy precedent in that North Korea would not be talking to the U.S. through China or South Korea. The U.S. declines the invitation March Third Session of the Fifth Supreme People s Assembly is held in Pyongyang. 15 August President Park s wife dies in a failed assassination attempt on the President s life perpetrated by a North Korean front organization in Japan.