The Development of the Discussions on Unification during the Early Post-Cold War Era : Competition and Coexistence between the Government and Nongovernment Sector
Journal Title: International Journal of Korean History - Year 2012, Vol 17, Issue 1
Abstract
This study analyzes the discussions pertaining to unification and the characteristics of the unification movement during the Roh Tae Woo regime, in power during the early post-Cold War era. More to the point, this article examines the competition and coexistence that existed between the government and nongovernment sector with regards to this issue. Amidst the onset of the post-Cold War Era, the Roh Tae Woo (No T΄aeu) government undertook an active engagement policy towards North Korea that can be characterized by the establishment of the Nordpolitik policy and the July 7th Declaration (Special Declaration for National Self-Esteem, Unification, and Prosperity). The advent of a wide range of North-South Korean talks, including high-level ones, paved the way for the two Koreas to establish a new milestone in their relationship in the form of the adoption of the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement, an agreement that highlighted the uniqueness of the inter-Korean relationship. The North’s attitude during the process that led up to the establishment of the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement can be regarded as one based on the posture of defensive coexistence. This came as part of their attempts to overcome the post-Cold War crisis marked by the collapse of the socialist bloc. On the other hand, South Korea played an active leadership role and served as the driving force behind this process. All of this led to the development of a new international paradigm known as the simultaneous ascension of North-South Korea to the UN taking root on the Korean peninsula. However, internal and external factors associated with the erosion of the inter-Korean relationship, in the form of intentional attempts by the hard-line faction within the government to derail the inter-Korean relationship as well as the nuclear standoff between the United States and North Korea, were also clearly exposed during this process. Here, special attention should be drawn to the fact that the intentional stress placed on the inter-Korean relationship by those who adopted a hard-line towards the North was closely related to the presidential election strategy endorsed by conservative political forces. This period also saw an explosive growth in nongovernment sector led discussions regarding unification and related unification movements, as well as in inter-Korean exchange campaigns within all classes of society. A series of events, including the campaign for the holding of inter-Korean student talks and for the joint organization of the Olympics, had the effect of making exchanges with the North a key issue within society. At the same time, this growing interest in North Korea resulted in the emergence of the phenomenon known as the “Movement to Develop a Proper Understanding of North Korea.” Doubts started to be raised about the logic of the conservative power, which during the Cold War Era had propped up the authoritative dictatorship in the name of anticommunism. There was also an exponential growth in intellectual curiosity regarding North Korea, curiosity that was rooted in the notion of silsa kusi (實事求是, silsa gusi, seeking truth from facts). Nongovernment sector-based unification movements eventually splintered into those that were friendly towards North Korea and those that were critical of it. The emergence of the Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification(PKAR), which adopted tripartite cooperation (two Koreas and the international community), and of the search for a new unification structure that respected the values of various unification movements in Korea, was in fact the result of conflicting understandings of North Korea that existed within the various unification movements. As such, the discussions over unification carried out by the various nongovernment unification groups, which began to exhibit a multilayered structure, became an internal competition of sorts. During this process, the government, which intended to curb discussions on unification within the nongovernment sector based on the principle of ‘single-window’ negotiations with the North, maintained strained relations with nongovernment unification groups. Thus, the discussions on unification between the government and nongovernment sector during the post-Cold War era entered a new era in which both sides found themselves having to compete in an attempt to influence the other amidst an environment in which they were increasingly conscious of each other.
Authors and Affiliations
Ji-hyung Kim
Keywords
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