The Study Of U.S. Policies Towards ROK From The Kennedy To Carter Administration

It is absolutely well-known that the U.S. has been playing a critical role in the international affairs related to the Korean peninsula from the second half of the 20th century till present days. The U.S., out of the consideration of its national interests, held generally a firm stand in supporting ROK during the period of Cold War. Its policies towards ROK greatly influenced the political structure in Northeast Asia. Most of all, the present policies towards ROK share much more similarities compared with that of 1960s and 1970s. Therefore, it is necessary to study cautiously the above-mentioned questions so as to understand present situation of U.S. policies towards ROK, and thus to further our knowledge about U.S. policies in Northeast Asia.Except for the Introduction (Chapter 1) and the Conclusion, this thesis contains 6 parts, which focus on U.S. policies towards ROK in the 1960s and 1970s.Everything has its original source, and so does the U.S. policies towards ROK. The initial contact between these two countries began in mid-1800s, and at the beginning of 1880s they established formal foreign relations. As historical review, Chapter 2 discusses the the foreign contacts of the two nations at the initial stage and its sluggish development in which the U.S. showed less interest in the so-called"Hermit Kingdom". While from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, many great powers got involved in the political affairs around the Korean peninsula one after another, the affairs in Northeast Asia had been gradually connected with that of the whole world. Thus the Korean Peninsula became another focus among the powers, and in turn, the related powers caused great impacts on the alternation of the international political structure of the area. To our strange, the U.S., as a big power at the moment, payed less attention to Korean affairs than the others and had not forge its Korean policies systematically. Things changed since the end of World War Two, especially since the eruption of Korean War. The U.S. kept ROK survived by military forces, and simultaneously loaded itself with a heavy burden. Neither Rhee government nor the Second Repulic government could shed off the troubles that the nation had met and achieve industrilization for the whole country. While the U.S. intended to shape the ROK into a model of democratic nation in Asia, to the contrary, the contradiction resulted from the divergence between Eastern and Western cultures has run against the U.S. true intentions.The Park Chung Hee military coup brought a chance to the U.S. who was eager to stabilize its strategic fortress. Chapter 3 deals with the change of the U.S. attitude towards"May 16th Military Coup"together with the transference of the power to civilian government. While the Second Repulic of Korea failed to fufil its historical role, a special military coup took place. Theoretically, U.S. strongly opposed such kind of political event, for Park Chung Hee military group went against the U.S. doctrine of democracy. The Kennedy administration's attitude on ROK, after the Military Coup, experienced a subtle change of"supporting, opposing, wait-and-see and supporting"in less than half a year, short but with profound reasons.How and in what degree the U.S. impacted the negotiations between the ROK and Japan, and why the U.S. took an active role willingly to mediate the normalization between those two nations, are all the objects that Chapter 4 considers. Japan and Korea had been historical foes to each other for scores of years——geographically close but emotionally far, while, during the Cold War, both were the U.S. allies, and they were in one"family". With the consideration of its national interests and the dominant position in the alliances with Japan and ROK, the U. S. had no other choice but to mediate between them. As for the U.S., the successful mediation lie in two aspects: one is the security factor; the other is the economic factor. While strengthening its strategy in the Northeast Asia, the U.S. was terribly entangled with the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia and the military burden on the U.S. became heavier and heavier, so it badly needed aids from her allies. Thus South Korean soldiers were sent to South Vietnam.From a broad view, Chapter 5 chooses"The ROK's military dispatch to South Vietnam"as the topic. The dispatch action apparently altered the alliance relations between the two nations than any other period in their history-----it changed from the type of"free-riding"to"bargaing", and the U.S. foreign policies towards ROK adjusted itself to such situation. The ROK's military dispatch to South Vietnam improved its economic strength and at the same time raised its international position, and ROK also gained the"force"to argue with U.S. which couldn't be possible before.Relations between the two states slid down to the low ebb during the Cater administration. Among other things, the U.S. military withdrawal and human rights policies on ROK were the critical reasons. These two issues show themselves in Chapters 6 and 7. At the end of 1960s, the U.S. began to conduct a draw-back strategy in Asia, and ROK opposed U.S.'military withdral plan. U.S. policies around the matter encountered a great many obstacles between these two nations. Simultaniously, human rights problem staged on the top of the foreign agenda during the Carter adiministration. Therefore the authoritarian goverment under Park Chung Hee was sure to be scolded by the U.S.. Confronting the double pressures-----military withdrawal and censures on huamn rights. The Park administration reacted vigorously, the thought of self-reliance of national defence, the development of nuclear weapons as well as the"Reformation"led by Park Chung Hee were the clear appearances. Although the U.S. policies towards ROK had once moved to the ebb, it, however, didn't split with each other. All the reasons stemed from the American national interests. From a longitudinal view, even nowadays, these two problems still lingers as the key notes in the U.S. policies towards ROK.In conclusion, through the studies of the key problems of the U.S. policies towards ROK in 1960s and 1970s, the author summarizes four distinctive embodiments from the U.S.–ROK relations as the followings: the embodiment of the typical foreign activities between two nonequivalent nations; the embodiment of the universal and contradictory characteristics in U.S. foreign policies; the embodiment of Staatsraison; and the embodiment of the cultural differences between the eastern and western nations.