The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History Read online

  PRAISE FOR

  The Two Koreas:

  “A well-reported if unfinished story, well told by someone who has been a Korea-watcher for almost four decades. . . . Probing behind events to reveal the machinations of key politicians, generals, and bureaucrats, often re-creating the dynamics shaping their behavior, is the strength of this book. . . . Oberdorfer chronicles with impressive detail the pathos of the nuclear crisis and the freezing of North-South relations it precipitated. What emerges from The Two Koreas is a portrait of precisely why the peninsula is so volatile: two rivals competing for national legitimacy in a culture where compromise is tantamount to defeat. . . . Oberdorfer refrains from punditry and predictions, letting his powerful material tell the story.”—The Boston Globe

  “[A] fine book. . . . [Oberdorfer’s] gripping narrative should chasten our leaders and inform our citizenry about the continuing perils and costs of America’s involvement with Korea. At a time when frivolous sensationalism dominates the media, [The Two Koreas] illustrates the virtues of a life given to honest, independent, inquiring journalism. . . . [It is] a detailed insider’s account of the period since President Nixon opened China. . . . Oberdorfer excels at weaving together the characters and events of the period (often ones that he covered as a reporter) with more recent interviews with major participants in Washington, Seoul, Pyongyang, Beijing and Tokyo. He also pays more attention than usual to the work of scholars on Korea. What results is not really the history of the two Koreas but of American relations with Korea in the last 25 years. Oberdorfer is often definitive on that subject, deploying information that even specialists do not know.”—Bruce Cumings, The Los Angeles Times

  “Oberdorfer is one of America’s keenest analysts of the international scene.” —James A. Baker III, former U.S. Secretary of State

  “An authoritative and readable work of history that will inform [Oberdorfer’s] colleagues and the public at large as they watch the future of the Cold War’s last remaining division unfold. . . . Even for those who know a lot about recent diplomacy, Oberdorfer fills in gaps, having interviewed many key participants.” —USA Today

  “Though he is an old Asia hand who has made many visits to the Korean peninsula—including two to North Korea—he deliberately keeps himself out of this book. Mistrusting his impressions, Oberdorfer, a retired diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post, researched exhaustively, conducting more than 450 interviews. The result is a comprehensive and informative . . . account of postwar Korean history, from the Korean War to the rise of democracy in the South to the nuclear-weapons crisis in the North.”—The Globe and Mail

  “A most timely book to understand what could happen if North Korea implodes or attacks South Korea.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

  “[A] fine new book. . . . Oberdorfer is the sort of well-informed and conscientious journalist with a lifetime of experience that academic specialists can learn a lot from, and general readers will find this a lively, interesting, accessible, and satisfying book. It is not quite a contemporary history of the two Koreas (there are only a few Korean voices, and large swaths of domestic Korean history are left out), but it is the best history of the past 30 years of American-Korean relations. . . . Oberdorfer pens remarkably accurate portraits of a string of South Korean presidents. . . . The Two Koreas should give pause to those who think we should fight wars to keep the instruments of war out of the wrong hands.” —Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

  “Oberdorfer, veteran Washington Post diplomatic correspondent who has met every South Korean president on their home ground and every North Korean foreign minister during their annual trips to the United States, does an excellent job of filling in the blanks in our knowledge of events from 1953 until today. . . . The picture Oberdorfer presents is by no means a clear view of sweetness and light and democracy on our side, and communist tyranny and terror on their side.”—Florida Times-Union

  “A fine overview of Korea’s recent past.”—Kirkus Reviews

  “Combining the depth and authority of a first-rate textbook with the readability of a good novel, [The Two Koreas] has proven to be a wonderful teaching tool for instructors and students alike.”—Carter J. Eckert, Professor of Korean History, Harvard University

  “A useful primer on policy.”—The Weekend Australian

  “Packed with great details and anecdotes which bring the whole extraordinary saga [of the two Koreas] to life . . . [Oberdorfer] is particularly good at detailing how the South gained the military and economic upper hand from the 1980s onwards as the North’s communist backers deserted it. He sheds much light on how the Soviet Union stepped in to bankroll Kim Il-sung after China reduced its support under new leader Deng Xiaoping. And how with the Soviet Union’s collapse seven years ago, North Korea, refusing to contemplate reforms, went into economic free-fall. . . . Oberdorfer’s description of the friendship forged between [Carter and Il-sung] . . . is worth the price of the book alone. . . . [A] skillful mixture of reportage and history which opens the door to understanding what will happen next.”—South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

  “Engrossing, informative, wise. A rare achievement, the best account yet of a tragically divided country.”—Ezra Vogel, Director, Asia Center, Harvard University

  “Award-winning contemporary history from a veteran correspondent whose contacts book is as fat as the Old Testament. Here he traces the last 50 years of divided Korea, a tragic situation that we have all too readily learned to live with. With expert knowledge of both sides of the DMZ, Oberdorfer is able to trace common currents of Koreanness that unite the two halves. The real strength of the book is in its meticulous research about how other countries have treated Korea, a natural emphasis in the case of a country crucial to the security interests of Japan, China, Russia and the United States. . . . Oberdorfer . . . stitch[es] together a wonderful tapestry of fact and anecdote, all impeccably sourced to firsthand information from key players like Gorbachev and George Schultz. Journalism is known as the first draft of history, but this will probably stand unchallenged.”—The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo)

  Copyright © 2014 by Don Oberdorfer and Robert Carlin

  Published by Basic Books,

  A Member of the Perseus Books Group

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 250 West 57th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10107.

  Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810–4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected].

  Designed by Pauline Brown

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Oberdorfer, Don.

  The two Koreas : a contemporary history / Don Oberdorfer, Robert Carlin. —Revised and updated third edition.

  pages cm

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-0-465-05088-8 (e-book) 1. Korea (South)—History. 2. Korea (North)—History. I. Carlin, Robert, 1947– II. Title.

  DS922.2.O25 2013

  951.904—dc23

  2013030124

  10987654321

  For the people of the two Koreas May they be one again, and soon.

  CONTENTS

  Preface to the New Edition

  Preface to the Second Edition
>
  A Note on Korean Names

  1WHERE THE WILD BIRDS SING

  The Emergence of Two Koreas

  War and Its Aftermath

  The Origins of Negotiation

  Kim Il Sung

  Conversations with the South

  2THE END OF THE BEGINNING

  Park Chung Hee

  Washington Blinks at Park’s Coup

  The Impact of Yushin

  3THE TROUBLE DEEPENS

  Tensions Increase

  The Struggle with Japan

  The Underground War

  Challenge from the North

  Echoes of Saigon

  The South Korean Nuclear Weapons Program

  Murder in the Demilitarized Zone

  4THE CARTER CHILL

  Carter’s Withdrawal: Origins and Implementation

  The View from Pyongyang

  End of the Carter Withdrawal

  5ASSASSINATION AND AFTERMATH

  Growing Domestic Tensions

  The Coming of Chun Doo Hwan

  The Kwangju Uprising

  The Fight to Save Kim Dae Jung

  6TERROR AND TALK

  The Negotiating Track

  Floods and Face-to-Face Talks

  Kim Il Sung and the Soviet Connection

  7THE BATTLE FOR DEMOCRACY IN SEOUL

  Chun’s Succession Struggle

  The Election of 1987

  8THE GREAT OLYMPIC COMING-OUT PARTY

  The Coming of the Olympics

  The Bombing of KAL Flight 858

  The Rise of Nordpolitik

  Washington Launches a Modest Initiative

  9MOSCOW SWITCHES SIDES

  The Roots of Change

  Gorbachev Meets Roh

  The Shevardnadze Mission

  “How Long Will the Red Flag Fly?”

  Soviet–South Korean Economic Negotiations

  10CHINA SHIFTS ITS GROUND

  A Visit to North Korea

  China Changes Course

  11JOINING THE NUCLEAR ISSUE

  The Origins of the Nuclear Program

  Nuclear Diplomacy: The American Weapons

  First Steps

  The December Accords

  Meeting in New York

  The Coming of the Inspectors

  First Inspections

  From Accommodation to Crisis

  12WITHDRAWAL AND ENGAGEMENT

  The Light-Water-Reactor Plan

  Kim Young Sam Blows the Whistle

  The Season of Crisis Begins

  13SHOWDOWN OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS

  The Defueling Crisis

  The Military Track

  The Deepening Conflict

  Carter in Pyongyang

  14DEATH AND ACCORD

  The End of an Era

  The Succession of Kim Jong Il

  The Framework Negotiations

  Fallout from the Agreed Framework

  The Kim Jong Il Regime

  Visit to Pyongyang

  The Struggle over the Reactors

  15NORTH KOREA IN CRISIS

  Political Earthquake in Seoul

  Summit Diplomacy and the Four-Party Proposal

  The Submarine Incursion

  North Korea’s Steep Decline

  The Passage of Hwang Jang Yop

  The Two Koreas in Time of Trouble

  16TURN TOWARD ENGAGEMENT

  Into the Heavens, Under the Earth

  Toward an Aid-Based State

  Perry to the Rescue

  Toward the June Summit

  Summit in Pyongyang

  Engaging the United States

  17THE END OF THE AGREED FRAMEWORK

  A Rocky Start

  The Impact of 9/11

  Threads Come Together: Japan–North Korea Talks

  Slouching Toward the Cliff

  Kim Jong Il’s Progress

  The Unquiet Americans

  The Morning After

  18TROUBLE IN THE US-ROK ALLIANCE

  Problems for Diplomacy

  Sunshine, Barely

  Tensions Rise

  The Six-Party Mirage

  Nuclear Peek-a-Boo

  A Year of Zigzags

  The End of KEDO

  Traction, at Last

  Rumble in Punggye

  19THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES

  Signs of Succession

  Diplomatic Downturn

  A Terrible Start

  Clinton’s Visit

  Turning to the South

  A Second North-South Summit, but Not a Third

  Secret Talks, Public Clashes

  The Rise of Chinese Influence

  Rare Backlash

  Yeonpyeong Island

  Kim Jong Il’s Death and Beyond

  The New Look

  AFTERWORD

  The Great Leadership Divide

  New Heights

  The Chinese Shadow

  An Uneasy Peace

  Principal Korean Figures in the Text

  Acknowledgments

  Notes and Sources

  Index

  Photographs follow page 264.

  PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION

  In the twelve years since Don Oberdorfer finished updating his well-respected account of the events and personalities that shaped Korean history after the Korean War, much has happened on the divided peninsula, yet the situation remains frozen in many ways. The South is richer than ever, but is facing the same serious demographic problems that plague much of the industrialized world—low birthrates, wrenching changes in the traditional family structure, underutilization of its educated younger generations, and the need to develop social safety nets to deal with an aging population. All of these challenges have been compounded by the South’s ongoing confrontation with North Korea—a confrontation that, in some ways, has become more dangerous than at any time in the past thirty years.

  North Korea is today no closer to achieving its economic goals than it has ever been and is falling further and further behind the rest of the countries in Northeast Asia. Internal pressures are growing from a population no longer as docile as it once was, nor as willing to accept the promises of a better tomorrow from a state that the people now realize cannot provide even for their basic needs. Meanwhile, development of nuclear weapons, a goal of North Korea’s for the past three decades, has not brought it security.

  The one new element in the North is the advent of a young leader educated, for at least a few years, in the West. Kim Jong Un is an unknown quantity to the outside world, but in his first eighteen months in power he has demonstrated that he is prepared to lead the country in new directions. At times he is more confrontational than his father, Kim Jong Il, but he is no less capable of keeping his neighbors on edge.

  Over the past decade, China has emerged as a player in Korea as it has not been for well over a hundred years. How far Beijing is willing to assert itself on the Korean peninsula is not yet clear, though everyone in Asia knows that they are watching an emerging China replace the influence of what appears to be, by contrast, a diminished United States.

  When Don Oberdorfer asked if I would help revise and update The Two Koreas, it was a simple decision to make. After forty years in Washington, all of them focused on Asia (indeed, virtually all of them focused on Korea), it was an offer I could not refuse. I knew that to match Don’s experience was impossible, though his name ended up opening many doors for me as I conducted interviews. Matching the rhythm and richness of the previous editions’ prose was a goal I set early, because the impact of the story of The Two Koreas is not just in the content but in the telling. Throughout the first sixteen chapters, Don frequently referred to his own experience and observations of people and events, using the first-person pronoun. For the sake of consistency, we decided to continue that practice in the three new chapters, that is, the first-person pronoun refers to Don. Again, for the sake of consistency, in the new chapters my own involvement in events is handled in the third person.

  Like Don, I am
not a historian, though I lived some of the history in this book and saw firsthand at least some of what unfolded in the years covered in the three new chapters. Many people helped me learn what I did not know, and I hope I have done a decent job of telling the story as they saw it. Part of the task before me was updating the earlier sixteen chapters, if there was anything left to add. I knew if anyone would have a grasp of new information on old events, it would be the scholars at the Wilson Center’s Cold War History Project. They did, and their work deserves great respect.

  Johns Hopkins University and the Pacific Century Institute supported this project; it would not have been possible without them. I am especially grateful to Spencer Kim for his backing and encouragement in this endeavor. Stanford University’s Center of International Security and Cooperation has given me an academic home for many years, and my ongoing contact with CISAC’s experts and scholars has been invaluable.

  My greatest disappointment is that the North Koreans, despite repeated requests, would not take the opportunity Don and I offered them to contribute their perspective to this new edition. Someday, officials in Pyongyang will understand that a history of their country written without them does them no favors. Apparently, that day has not yet come.

  It soon becomes obvious to anyone who deals with Korea for more than a few years that it is a drama on many levels, with great historical forces grinding at a people who for more than a hundred years have not been left in the peace and quiet that their country, with its rows of hills shrouded in morning mist, might offer in abundance. Perhaps the next edition of this book can end on a happy note. But as Don observed in his preface to the second edition, “The outcome of the drama on the Korean peninsula is still beyond our reach.” For this third edition, the story remains unfinished, and, sadly, the dangers remain profound.

  —Robert Carlin, Washington, May 2013

  PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

  We are now traveling the length of free Korea by troop train, from the southern tip, the port of Pusan, to almost the farthest point therefrom, Inchon on the northwest coast. . . . Our first impressions, at Pusan, were miserable and pathetic. The dirtiest children I have ever seen anywhere evaded MPs around the train to beg from GIs. One boy crawled around the train on his only leg; what had been his left one was off at the thigh. When our train pulled out, several boys threw rocks at the train. . . . Out of Pusan, however, the picture is better. The Korean countryside is quite mountainous, with villages in the little stretches of valleys between the rugged, unadorned crags. The people in the villages till the soil and wash in the muddy water holes, and the children do God-knows-what. They line the sides of the railroad and shout, “hello, hello” at the troop train, hoping to be thrown cigarettes or candy or something of value.