[KS] New NKIDP Publication: The Rise and Fall of Détente on the Korean Peninsula, 1970-1974
James Person
jfperson at hotmail.com
Wed Oct 26 15:08:35 EDT 2011
NKIDP is pleased to announce the release of the The Rise and Fall of Détente on the Korean Peninsula, 1970-1974.
The publication features the transcript of the second in a series of
critical oral history conferences jointly convened by the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars’ North Korea International
Documentation Project and the University of North Korean Studies. The publication also features a selection of twenty-two newly translated documents from the archives of North Korea's former communist allies.
In July 2010, the Woodrow Wilson Center’s North Korea International Documentation Project and the
University of North Korean Studies convened their second in a series of
critical oral history conferences at the Wilson Center in Washington,
DC. For the first and perhaps last time, a group of veteran diplomatic
and intelligence officials from the Republic of Korea, the United
States, and the former communist bloc, all active in Korean affairs in
the early 1970s, assembled with a small group of scholars in an effort
to provide context to, and fill gaps in the available documentary
record. The Rise and Fall of Détente on the Korean Peninsula, 1970-1974
is the result of that historic conference and features extended and
probing discussions on the rise and demise of the inter-Korean dialogue,
South Korea’s changing relationship with the United States, and North
Korea’s position within the communist bloc during the era of détente.
The proceedings revealed the following findings:
South Korean leaders were concerned that after the United
States-China rapprochement in the early 1970s, Washington might also
unilaterally seek rapprochement with North Korea. These concerns
factored prominently into Seoul’s decision to engage Pyongyang directly.After determining that the prosperity gap between the two Koreas was
widening in South Korea’s favor, President Park Chung Hee suggested
holding discussions on a rotational basis in Seoul and Pyongyang to make
the North Korean leadership aware of the South’s growing affluence;North Korean leader Kim Il Sung entered into dialogue with Seoul
believing that South Korea was ripe for revolution, and that, much like
North Vietnam, the North would ultimately prevail over the South;Korean Central Intelligence Agency Chief Lee Hurak played an
influential role in the decision to strengthen presidential authority in
South Korea under the Yushin system – possibly more so than President
Park Chung Hee.
Twenty-two documents, obtained from archives in South Korea,
Hungary, Romania, (East) Germany, Bulgaria, Albania, and the United
States accompany the conference transcript and provide additional
context and evidence on this period in inter-Korean, U.S.-Korean, and
DPRK-Socialist bloc relations. Among the most noteworthy documents in
the collection are newly obtained and translated conversation between
Kim Il Sung and foreign heads of state, including Romania’s Nicolae
Ceausescu and Bulgaria’s Todor Zhivkov. In his 1971 conversation with
Ceausescu, Kim Il Sung described his new policy of peaceful
reunification, premised on the belief that South Korea was on the verge
of revolution. In his 1973 conversation with Zhivkov, the North Korean
leader expressed his frustrations with Chinese foreign and domestic
policies.
The Rise and Fall of Détente on the Korean Peninsula, 1970-1974 is available online. To receive a free copy of the book, please send your name and mailing address to nkidp at wilsoncenter.org.
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