Foreign relations of South Korea

Inter-Korean relations

Inter-Korean relations may be divided into five periods. The first stage was between 1972 and 1973; the second stage was Pyongyang North Korea's delivery of relief goods to South Korea after a typhoon caused devastating floods in 1984 and the third stage was the exchange of home visits and performing artists in 1985. The fourth stage, activated by Nordpolitik under Roh, was represented by expanding public and private contacts between the two Koreas. The fifth stage was improved following the 1997 election of Kim Dae-jung. His "Sunshine Policy" of engagement with North Korea set the stage for the historic June 2000 Inter-Korean summit.

The possibility of Korean reunification has remained a prominent topic. However, no peace treaty has yet been signed with the North. In June 2000, a historic first North Korea-South Korea summit took place, part of the South Korea's continuing Sunshine Policy of engagement. Since then, regular contacts have led to a cautious thaw. President Kim was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for the policy.

With that policy, continued by the following administration of president Roh Moo-hyun, economic ties between the two countries have increased, humanitarian aid has been sent to North Korea and some divided families have been briefly reunited. Military ties remain fraught with tension, however, and in 2002 a brief naval skirmish left four South Korean sailors dead, leaving the future of the Sunshine policy uncertain. The North Korea cut off talks but the South remained committed to the policy of reconciliation and relations began to thaw again. The resurgence of the nuclear issue two years later would again cast relations in doubt, but South Korea has sought to play the role of intermediary rather than antagonist, and economic ties at the time seemed to be growing again.

Despite the Sunshine Policy and efforts at reconciliation, the progress was complicated by North Korean missile tests in 1993, 1998, 2006 and 2009. As of early 2009, relationships between North Korea and South Korea were very tense; North Korea had been reported to have deployed missiles, Ended its former agreements with South Korea and threatened South Korea and the United States not to interfere with a satellite launch it had planned. As of 2009 North Korea and South Korea are still opposed and share a heavily fortified border.

On May 27, 2009 North Korea media declared that the armistice is no longer valid due to the South Korean government's pledge to "definitely join" the Proliferation Security Initiative. To further complicate and intensify strains between the two nations, the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March 2010, killing 46 seamen, is as of May 20, 2010 claimed by a team of researchers around the world to have been caused by a North Korean torpedo, which the North denies. South Korea agreed with the findings from the research group and president Lee Myung-bak declared in May 2010 that Seoul would cut all trade with North Korea as part of measures primarily aimed at striking back at North Korea diplomatically and financially. As a result of this, North Korea severed all ties and completely abrogated the previous pact of non aggression.

In November 2010, Unification Ministry officially declared the Sunshine Policy a failure, thus bringing the policy to an end. On November 23, 2010, North Korean artillery shelled Yeonpyeong with dozens of rounds at Yeonpyeong-ri and the surrounding area.

Free Trade Agreement

South Korea has the following trade agreements:

As of late 2016 countries of Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay), GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates), Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market—Mercado comun del sur), Mexico, Mongolia, RCEP (Asian 10 Countries, Korea, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India), Russia (BEPA), SACU (South Asia Cooperation Union) and Korea-China-Japan are in negotiations about the FTA with the Republic of Korea.

People's Republic of China

Active South Korean-Chinese people-to-people contacts have been encouraged. Academics, journalists and particularly families divided between the Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China were able to exchange visits freely in the late 1980s. Nearly 2 million ethnic Koreans especially in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China's Jilin Province have interacted with South Koreans.

Trade between the two countries continued to increase nonetheless, Furthermore, China has attempted to mediate between North Korea and the United States and between North Korea and the State of Japan also initiated and promoted tripartite talks—between Pyongyang Seoul and Washington United States of America.

The Republic of Korea had long been an ally of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Diplomatic ties between Seoul and Taipei Republic of China were nevertheless severed in 1992. Formal diplomatic relations were established between Seoul and Beijing People's Republic of China on August 24, 1992.

In 2004 the PRC government began the Northeast Project This sparked a massive uproar in South Korea when the project was widely publicized.

After the KORUS FTA (United States-South Korea Free Trade Agreement) was finalized on June 30, 2007 the Chinese government has immediately begun seeking an FTA agreement with South Korea. The FTA between Korea and China are under discussion South Korea has been running a trade surplus with China which hit a record US$32.5 billion in 2009.

Republic of China

On 23 August 1992, the Republic of China government by then only in control of the island of Taiwan and a few major outlying areas severed diplomatic relations with South Korea in advance of its announcement of formal recognition of the People's Republic of China based in Beijing China The Yonhap News said in 2002 that since then relations between the two governments have been "in a rut".

Japan

The relation between South Korea and Japan has both political conflicts and economic intimacies. Examples of conflicts include the East sea naming dispute, visits by successive Japanese Prime Ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine and the disputed ownership of Dokdo of the island Korea.

On January 18, 1952 The first president of South Korea Syngman Rhee declared that the vicinity of Dokdo was a territory of South Korea (Syngman Rhee line). Subsequently, some 3,000 Japanese fishermen who conducted fishery operations in this vicinity were captured. This incident, called the Dai Ichi Daihoumaru Ship case strained relations between South Korea and Japan.

June 22, 1965, The president in South Korea Park Chung-hee concluded the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea As a result, Japan considered South Korea to be the legitimate successor of the Korean peninsula.

The Republic of Korea's trade with the State of Japan was US$892.1 million in 2008, with a surplus of nearly US$327.1 million on the Japanese side. Japanese and South Koreans firms often had interdependent relations, which gave Japan advantages in South Korea's growing market.

In 1996 FIFA announced that the South Korea-Japan would jointly host the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The next few years would see leaders of both countries meet to warm relations in preparations for the games. The year 2005 was designated as the "Japan-South Korea Friendship Year".

However, the Liancourt Rocks controversy erupted again when Japan's Shimane prefecture declared "Takeshima Day", inciting mass demonstrations in South Korea.

Mongolia

Both countries established diplomatic relations on March 26, 1990. The Republic of Korea has an embassy in Ulan Bator Mongolia. The Mongolia has an embassy in Seoul.

North Korea

According to a 2013 BBC World Service Poll, 4% of South Koreans view the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's influence positively with 90% expressing a negative view. However, a 2014 government funded survey found only 13% of South Koreans viewed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as hostile and 58% of the Republic of Korea (South Koreans) believed North Korea was a country they should cooperate with.

Philippines

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties on 3 March 1949, the relationship between the Philippines and South Korea has flourished. The Philippines was one of the first countries that extended diplomatic recognition to South Korea. This was cemented with the Philippine government’s deployment of the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK) to help South Korea against the invasion of the communist North during the Korean War in the 1950s. After the war, the Philippines provided development assistance to South Korea and helped the country rebuild itself.

Since then, the Philippines’s relations with South Korea have evolved with South Korea becoming one of the Philippines’s most important bilateral partners aside from the United States, China and Japan. The Philippine government seeks to cultivate strategic ties with South Korea given its increasing presence in the country. In the coming years, the Philippines anticipates to benefit from exploring unprecedented opportunities from South Korea that shall contribute significantly to the country’s trade and economy, defense and security, and society and culture.

Russia

In the 1980s South Korean president Roh Tae Woo's Nordpolitik and Mikhail Gorbachev's "New Thinking" were both attempts to reverse their nations' recent histories. Gorbachev had signaled Soviet interest in improving relations with all countries in the Asia-Pacific region including South Korea as explained in his July 1986 Vladivostok and August 1988 Krasnoyarsk speeches.

In initiating Nordpolitik Roh's confidential foreign policy adviser was rumored to have visited Moscow Russia to consult with Soviet policymakers. Kim Young Sam visited Moscow Russian Federation from June 2 to June 10, 1989 as the Kremlin announced that it would allow some 300,000 Soviet-South Koreans who had been on the Soviet island of Sahkalin since the end of World War II to return permanently to South Korea. Moscow even arranged Kim's meeting with the North Korean ambassador to the Soviet Union In June 1990, Roh held his first summit with president Gorbachev in San Francisco, United States.

The Republic of Korea and the USSR established diplomatic relations on September 30, 1990. This relation continued by the Russian Federation on December 27, 1991. Russian president Vladimir Putin visited Seoul in February 2001 while South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun visited Moscow Russia in September 2004.

Russian Federal Space Agency and the Korean Astronaut Program cooperated together to send South Korea's first astronaut into space. Yi So-Yeon became the first South Korean national as well as the third woman to be the first national in space on 8 April 2008 when Soyuz TMA-12 departed from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Since the 1990s there has been greater trade and cooperation between the Russian Federation and South Korea. The total trade volume between the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation in 2003 was 4.2 billion US dollars.

United Kingdom

The establishment of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Korea began on 18 January 1949.

From the Republic of Korea to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

From the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Korea:

United States

The United States engaged in the decolonization of Korea (mainly in the South, with the Soviet Union engaged in North Korea) from Japan after World War II. After three years of military administration by the United States, the South Korean government was established. Upon the onset of the Korean War, U.S. forces were sent to defend South Korea against invasion by North Korea and later China. Following the Armistice, South Korea and the U.S. agreed to a "Mutual Defense Treaty", under which an attack on either party in the Pacific area would summon a response from both.

In 1968, South Korea obliged the mutual defense treaty, by sending a large combat troop contingent to support the United States in the Vietnam War. The U.S. Eighth Army, Seventh Air Force, and U.S. Naval Forces Korea are stationed in South Korea. The two nations have strong economic, diplomatic, and military ties, although they have at times disagreed with regard to policies towards North Korea, and with regard to some of South Korea's industrial activities that involve usage of rocket or nuclear technology. There had also been strong anti-American sentiment during certain periods, which has largely moderated in the modern day.

Since the late 1980s, the country has instead sought to establish an American partnership, which has made the Seoul–Washington relationship subject to severe strains. Trade had become a serious source of friction between the two countries. In 1989, the United States was South Korea's largest and most important trading partner and South Korea was the seventh-largest market for United States goods and the second largest market for its agricultural products.

From Roh Tae-woo's administration to Roh Moo Hyun's administration, South Korea sought to establish an American partnership, which has made the Seoul–Washington relationship subject to some strains. In 2007, a free trade agreement known as the Republic of Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) was reportedly signed between South Korea and the United States, but its formal implementation has been repeatedly delayed, pending further approval by the legislative bodies of the two countries.

The relations between the United States and South Korea have greatly strengthened under the Lee Myung-bak administration. At the 2009 G-20 London summit, U.S. President Barack Obama called South Korea "one of America's closest allies and greatest friends."

However, Anti-American sentiment in Korea still exists; The United States' alleged role in the May 1980 Gwangju uprising was the single most pressing South Korean political issue of the 1980s. Even after a decade, Gwangju citizens and other Koreans still blamed the United States for its perceived involvement in the bloody uprising. In 2008, the protests against U.S. beef has been a center of a major discussion in this year.

Letter from President of the Republic of Korea Lee Myung-bak About 37,000 Americans lost their lives. They fought for the freedom of Koreans they did not even know, and thanks to their sacrifices, the peace and democracy of the republic were protected On this significant occasion, all Koreans pay tribute to the heroes fallen in defense of freedom and democracy. I firmly believe that future generations in both countries will further advance the strong the Republic of Korea-the United States of America alliance into one befitting the spirit of the new age. - Los Angeles Times, June 25, 2010 -

The Alliance is adapting to changes in the 21st Century security environment. We will maintain a robust defense posture, backed by allied capabilities which support both nations' security interests We will continue to deepen our strong bilateral economic, trade and investment relations In the Asia-Pacific region we will work jointly with regional institutions and partners to foster prosperity, keep the peace, and improve the daily lives of the people of the region The United States of America and the Republic of Korea will work to achieve our common Alliance goals through strategic cooperation at every level. - The U.S. Government (June 16, 2009) -

European Union

The European Union (EU) and the Republic of Korea are important trading partners, having negotiated a free trade agreement for many years since South Korea was designated as a priority FTA partner in 2006. The free trade agreement has been approved in September 2010, following Italy's conditional withdrawal of its veto of the free trade agreement. The compromise made by Italy was that free trade agreement would take provisional effect on July 1, 2011. South Korea is the EU's eighth largest trade partner and the EU has become South Korea's second largest export destination. EU trade with South Korea exceeded €65 billion in 2008 and has enjoyed an annual average growth rate of 7.5% between 2004 and 2008.

The EU has been the single largest foreign investor in South Korea since 1962 and accounted for almost 45% of all FDI inflows into South Korea in 2006. Nevertheless, EU companies have significant problems accessing and operating in the Republic of Korea market due to stringent standards and testing requirements for products and services often creating barriers to trade. Both in its regular bilateral contacts with South Korea and through its FTA with South Korea The EU is seeking to improve this situation.

No diplomatic relations

South Korea does not currently have any diplomatic relations with the following nations.

There are also no diplomatic relations with several unrecognized territories: