The U.S.-Korean Treaty of 1882 seemed to meet both Korean and Chinese hopes because it included a clause that promised America's "good offices" in any difficulties Korea might have with a third nation. The Koreans were disillusioned, however, to discover that this clause remained a dead letter against persistent Japanese encroachment and, finally, annexation of their country in 1910. Korean hopes were dashed in 1919, when they found that President Wilson's principle of national self-determination was applied in Europe but not to Asia. Hope was not raised again until World War II when the Allied Powers promised at Cairo in 1943 to liberate Korea and make it a free and independent state "in due course" after Japan's defeat. Fulfillment of this promise was thwarted after Japan's collapse, however, when the United States and the U.S.S.R., becoming locked in the "cold war," were unable to agree on the form of a united Korean state. The result was that the arbitrary division of Korea at te 38th parallel—a temporary expedient adopted in 1945 for the sole purpose of accepting the surrender of Japanese forces then in the country—was frozen. By mid-1948 two separate states had emerged, the Republic of Korea in the south and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the north. (U/OU)
The partition disrupted the Korean economy because most of the mineral ores and most of the modern economic infrastructure that Japan had developed were in the north. Lacking an industrial base, the largely agricultural South needed massive foreign economic aid to survive. The South Koreans felt that the United States, having participated in the division of the country, was responsible for supporting them. The United States, therefore, was obliged to shoulder the burden of supporting the less naturally endowed but more populous South. After the ROK Government was established, the United States considered it had largely fulfilled its obligations and, after Soviet forces had been withdrawn from the North, withdrew all of its forces in mid-1949, leaving only an ongoing economic aid agreement and a small military advisory group. (U/OU)
In June 1950 Soviet-equipped North Korean forces launched a highly successful surprise attack across the 3th parallel and quickly overran most of the South. By September, U.N. forces under U.S. command had driven the North Koreans out of the South, but when they then drove on towards the Manchurian border Chinese "volunteers" entered the war in great strength. After much shifting back and forth, a military front was eventually stabilized along the 38th parallel and an armistice signed in July 1953. The war reduced South Korea to complete dependence on the United States, and even after the war massive infusions of U.S. aid were required for relief and reconstruction as well as for equipping and maintaining the army of 600,000 men that the South felt it needed to guard against renewed attack from the North, The extensive and continuous U.S. commitment can be gauged from the fact that economic aid to South Korea totaled $5.6 billion during U.S. FYI1946-72 and military aid $5.7 billion during FY 1950-72. (U/OU)
In the 20 years since the armistice was signed at P'anmunjon, South Korea's economic dependence on the United States has been greatly reduced. It is a success story largely of the 1960's, during which the ROK Government under President Pak dedicated itself to a major effort to develop a viable economy, alleviate widespread poverty, and lessen dependence on foreign aid. Two successive and highly powerful 5-year plans (1962-71) made it possible to virtually terminate U.S. grant aid by the end of the 1960's. In the military realm, South Korea is still heavily dependent on the United States for sophisticated weapons systems and modernization in general, but South Korea now shoulders a major portion of its defense burden. (U/OU)
Internationally, the Pak government has progressively ordained its contacts and role, normalizing relations with Korea's ancient for, Japan, in 1965 and winning diplomatic recognition from a growing number of states (88 in mid-1973). A Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States in 1966 accorded South Korea a proud symbol of equality, and its military participation in South Vietnam was considered by Seoul to represent an important role in world affairs, as well as measure of its continued close ties with the United States. (U/OU)
