Abstract
This chapter argues that as soon as Reagan won the presidential elections in 1980, the president-elect was compelled to face a potentially explosive Korean crisis. Kim Dae Jung, a leading political dissident, was about to be executed in South Korea. Unlike Carter, Reagan played a significant role in saving Kim’s life by means of quiet diplomacy. In February 1981, Reagan welcomed Chun Doo Hwan to the White House, smoothly practiced alliance politics, and reaffirmed America’s treaty commitment to the defense of South Korea. Yet Lee examines confidential diplomatic documents which chronicle a heated debate between both sides behind the scenes. In view of his “legitimacy deficit,” Chun asked for Reagan’s public endorsement, but Reagan steadfastly refused to do so.
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Notes
- 1.
For Reagan’s trips, see James Mann, The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War (New York: Penguin Group, 2009), 11.
- 2.
See Kim Yong Shik, Saebyuk ui yaksok [Morning Promise] (Seoul: Kimyongsa, 1993), 249–250.
- 3.
For the intelligence report on the South Korean political situation in October 1971, see Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, vol. 19, part 1, Korea, 1969–1972 (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 2010), 289–290.
- 4.
Jimmy Carter, White House Diary (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010), 487.
- 5.
For a discussion of the Carter-Park summit meeting, see Chae-Jin Lee, A Troubled Peace: U.S. Policy and the Two Koreas (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), 91–94.
- 6.
For Gleysteen’s consultations with Choi Kyu Ha, see William H. Gleysteen Jr., Massive Entanglement, Marginal Influence: Carter and Korea in Crisis (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1999), 66–76. Gleysteen was born in China as the son of Presbyterian missionary parents. He studied at Yale University and entered the foreign service in 1951. He was a preeminent specialist of US diplomacy toward Asia. Author’s interview with Gleysteen, April 2001.
- 7.
Born in Hapchun, South Kyungsang Province, Chun Doo Hwan attended a high school in Taegu. He graduated from the Military Academy in 1955—the 11th class. He was trained at the US Army’s Special Warfare and Infantry Schools in 1959. He was a regiment commander in Vietnam. He served as a brigade commander of the Special Warfare Command, deputy chief of the Presidential Security Force, and commander of the First Infantry Division before becoming commander of the Defense Security Command in 1979. Roh Tae Woo was born in Talsung near Taegu and attended the same high school with Chun. After transferring to another high school in Taegu, he became one of Chung Ho Yong’s classmates. Roh was trained at the Psychological Warfare School and Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1959. He also served in Vietnam in 1967. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Chung was in Taegu as commander of the 50th Infantry Division on December 12, 1980.
- 8.
For US reactions, see Gleysteen, Massive Entanglement, 78–83.
- 9.
For Gleysteen’s first meeting with Chun on December 14, 1980, see Gleysteen, Massive Entanglement, 64–65.
- 10.
John A. Wickham Jr., Korea on the Brink: A Memoir of Political Intrigue and Military Crisis (Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1999), 114–118.
- 11.
The statement of the US Department of State on May 18, 1980, is cited in Gleysteen, Massive Entanglement, 123–24, and Lee, A Troubled Peace, 106–107.
- 12.
See Gi-Wook Shin and Kyung Moon Hwang, Contentious Kwangju: The May 18 Uprising in Korea’s Past and Present (Boulder, CO: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003).
- 13.
Author took part in the seminar. The Department of State deserves credit for its willingness to listen to scholarly views and recommendations.
- 14.
For the exchange between Carter (August 27, 1980) and Chun Doo Hwan (September 8, 1980), see Lee, A Troubled Peace, 108.
- 15.
See Richard Holbrooke and Michael Armacost, “A Future Leader’s Moment of Truth,” New York Times, December 24, 1997.
- 16.
For the text of the Tsongas letter, see “Kim Dae Jung: Trial,” Korea National Diplomatic Archives (hereafter KNDA), 1980, 18,713: 007–008.
- 17.
Ibid., 18,713: 149.
- 18.
Richard V. Allen, “On the Korea Tightrope, 1980,” New York Times, January 21, 1998. Author’s conversation with Allen, July 2003. Lew Byong Hion graduated from the Military Academy in 1948. He was educated at US Armor School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, and at US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was commanding general of the 15th Infantry Division and of the Capital Division in Vietnam. After serving as deputy commander-in-chief of the Combined Forces Command, he became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1979. He was about to be South Korean ambassador to the United States (1981–1985).
- 19.
On the meeting between Allen and Sohn on December 9, 1980, see “Memorandum for Record,” in The Kim Dae Jung Presidential Library (Seoul).
- 20.
The letter, declassified in 1998, is available in The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library (Atlanta, GA). Carter instructed Gleysteen to deliver it to Chun.
- 21.
19 See a report from Gleysteen to Holbrooke on November 21, 1980 in Kim Dae Jung jejak mokrokjip [The Catalog of Kim Dae Jung’s Works] (Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 2015), 144–145.
- 22.
The confidential report dated November 10, 1980, is in “New Reagan Policy,” KNDA, 1980, 20,180,413: 003–008.
- 23.
The confidential report dated November 13, 1980, is in ibid.
- 24.
Author’s conversation with Kim Kyung Won, October 2002. Born in Jinnampo, North Korea, Kim studied law at Seoul National University. He received a BA from Williams College (a valedictorian) and a PhD in government from Harvard University. His mentors included Stanley Hoffmann and Henry Kissinger. Kim taught at York University (Canada), New York University, and Korea University before joining the Blue House (presidential office) in 1975. He was presidential secretary general (1980–1982), ambassador to the United Nations (1982–1985), and ambassador to the United States (1985–1988).
- 25.
The text of Reagan’s inaugural address is available in “The Public Papers of Ronald Reagan,” in The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (Simi Valley, CA).
- 26.
Cited in New York Times, January 25, 1981.
- 27.
The Reagan Diaries, ed. Douglas Brinkley, abridged paperback ed. (New York: Harper Perennial, 2009), 2.
- 28.
Ibid., 1.
- 29.
Gleysteen’s telegram to the Department of State on January 22, 1981, “Agenda Suggestions for Reagan-Chun Meeting,” was declassified in 1996 (the Department of State).
- 30.
Haig’s memorandum dated January 29, 1981, “Your Meeting with Chun Doo Hwan, President of the Republic of Korea,” was declassified in 1993 (the Department of State).
- 31.
The Department of State prepared “Talking Points” for Reagan on January 23, 1981.
- 32.
A copy of Allen’s “Memorandum for the President” dated January 29, 1981, is in the National Security Archive, George Washington University.
- 33.
Reported by UPI, February 6, 1981.
- 34.
New York Times, February 1, 1981. Sung-il Choi (Choi Sung Il) was professor of political science at William and Hobart Smith Colleges. He received a BA from Seoul National University and a PhD from University of Kansas. He was active in a campaign for saving Kim Dae Jung’s life and seeking his release from prison. Author supervised Choi’s doctoral dissertation at Kansas.
- 35.
The Washington Post, February 2, 1981.
- 36.
For “Memorandum of Conversation” between Haig and Lho Shin Yung on February 1, 1981, see “Chun Doo Hwan’s Visit to America 1981,” KNDA, 1981, 9480: 002–015.
- 37.
See the text of the South Korean draft on January 18, 1981, ibid., 9481: 013–017.
- 38.
See Lho Shin Yung, Hoegorok [Memoirs] (Seoul: Koryo seojok, 2000), 242.
- 39.
See the US draft in “Chun Doo Hwan’s Visit to America 1981,” KNDA, 1981, 9481: 044–058.
- 40.
See the South Korean draft in ibid., 9481: 047.
- 41.
See “Memorandum of Conversation” between Reagan and Chun in The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (Simi Valley, CA). It was declassified in August 2006. US participants included George Bush (vice president), Alexander Haig (secretary of state), Caspar Weinberger (secretary of defense), Edwin Meese (counselor), James Baker (chief of staff), Richard Allen (NSA), William Gleysteen (ambassador), John Holdridge (assistant secretary of state), and Donald Gregg (NSC staff and note taker). The South Korean delegation included Shin Byong Hyun (deputy prime minister), Lho Shin Yung (foreign minister), Kim Yong Shik (ambassador), Choo Yong Bock (minister of national defense), Kim Kyung Won (presidential secretary general), and Gong Ro Myung (assistant foreign minister).
- 42.
Author’s conversation with Kim Kyung Won, October 2002.
- 43.
See Chun Doo Hwan, Hoegorok [Memoirs], vol. 2 (Pajusi: Chajak namuusup, 2017), 303–304. Chun came up with $10 billion by calculating $1 billion for maintaining one US army division in South Korea per year multiplied by two divisions over five years. In his memoirs, Chun recognizes the importance of Lew Byong Hion’s meeting with Allen in 1980, but says nothing about Chung Ho Yong’s discussions with Allen in regard to the Reagan-Chun summitry.
- 44.
Lho Shin Yung, Memoirs, 242.
- 45.
For the texts of Reagan’s and Chun’s statements, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States; Administration of Ronald Reagan, 1981 (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1982), 66–67.
- 46.
“ROK President Chun’s Meeting with the Secretary at the State Department,” dated February 6, 1981, was declassified in 1996 (the Department of State).
- 47.
See the Joint Communiqué in Department of State Bulletin, March 1981, 14–15, or in “The Public Papers of Ronald Reagan,” in The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 48.
The Reagan Diaries, 2.
- 49.
The text of Richard Allen’s memorandum to Ronald Reagan “Your Meeting with President Chun of Korea” dated February 6, 1981, in “Executive Secretariat, NSC: Country File—South Korea,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 50.
Donald P. Gregg, Pot Shards: Fragments of a Life Lived in CIA, the White House, and the Two Koreas (Washington, DC: New Academia Publishing, 2014), 168.
- 51.
Byung Chul Koh, The Foreign Policy Systems of North and South Korea (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1984), 213.
- 52.
Gleysteen, Massive Entanglement, 188. His criticism of Chun and Reagan was gone in author’s interview with Gleysteen in April 2001.
- 53.
Rich’s report dated February 13, 1981, was declassified in 1996 (the Department of State).
- 54.
As quoted in Koh, Foreign Policy Systems, 201–202.
- 55.
Rich’s report on February 13, 1981.
- 56.
Honolulu Advertiser, February 4, 1981.
- 57.
For detailed reports on Chun’s visit to the East-West Center and the Center for Korean Studies, see “Chun Doo Hwan’s Visit to America 1981,” KNDA, 1981, 9477: 129–130. Author discussed Chun’s visit to Hawaii with Dae-Sook Suh in February 2018.
- 58.
Honolulu Advertiser, February 6, 1981.
- 59.
See “Don Oberforder Files,” The National Security Archive, George Washington University.
- 60.
“Talking Points” prepared by the State Department for Haig on June 3, 1981, was declassified in 1996 (the Department of State).
- 61.
Department of State Bulletin, May 1981, 4–6.
- 62.
Transcripts of interviews with Blakemore, Cleveland, Dunlop, and Lambertson are in Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Library of Congress. After studying at Yale and Georgetown Universities, Cleveland joined the foreign service in 1959. He was political counselor (1973–1977) in Seoul, director of the Office of Korean Affairs in 1981, and DCM in Seoul from 1981 to 1985. He became ambassador to New Zealand and Malaysia. David Blakemore served as economic officer (1971–1974) in Seoul, deputy director of the Office of Korean Affairs (1977–1980), political counselor (1980–1983) in Seoul, and director of the Office of Korean Affairs (1986–1987). Thomas P.H. (Harry) Dunlop was political counselor (1983–1987) in Seoul and director of the Office of Korean Affairs (1987–1989). A graduate of University of Redlands, David Lambertson entered the foreign service in 1963. After serving in Japan, Vietnam, and Britain, he became director of the Office of Korean Affairs (1982–1984) and DCM (1986–1987) in Seoul. Later he became ambassador to Thailand.
- 63.
Richard Walker discusses his relations with many influential Korean friends in Hanguk ui chuok [Korean Remembrances] (Seoul: Hanguk munwon, 1998).
- 64.
The text of Sigur’s memorandum to William F. Martin on October 15, 1985, is in “Gaston Sigur Files,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (Simi Valley, CA).
- 65.
Author’s conversation with Lee Kyung Sook (former President of Sookmyung Women’s University), May 2014. She received a PhD under Walker’s supervision at University of South Carolina.
- 66.
The documents are in The Drew University Library Special Collection.
- 67.
Walker, Korean Remembrances, 24–25.
- 68.
Author’s communications with Kenneth Quinones, November 2017 and January 2019.
- 69.
See Walker’s cable to the Department of State “Ambassador’s Meeting with President Chun” dated September 30, 1981, in “Executive Secretariat, NSC: County File—South Korea,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 70.
See the text of “Proclamation 4942—United States-Korea Centennial” issued on May 10, 1982 in “The Public Papers of Ronald Reagan,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 71.
See Korea Herald, May 20, 1982. The South Korean government, too, sent to the United States two delegations led by Kim Yong Shik and Park Tong Jin, respectively.
- 72.
See Young Ick Lew, “The Shufeldt Treaty and Early Korean-American Interaction, 1882–1905,” in Sung-joo Han, ed., After One Hundred Years: Continuity and Change in Korean-American Relations (Seoul: The Asiatic Research Center, Korea University, 1982), 3–27.
- 73.
Participants included David McCann (Harvard University), Bruce Cumings (University of Washington), Donald Hellmann (University of Washington), Roger Janelli (Indiana University), Young C. Kim (George Washington University), Hahm Pyong Choon (Yensei University; former ambassador to the United States), Ro Jae Bong (Seoul National University; future prime minister), Chung Chong Wook (Seoul National University; future ambassador to China), Han Bae Ho (Korea University), and Park Jae Kyu (Kyungnam University; future minister of National Unification). Author served as a discussant.
- 74.
Author organized and chaired the special panel and the luncheon meeting hosted by Ambassador Lew in Denver.
- 75.
For Reagan’s explanation, see Ronald Reagan, An American Life: The Autobiography (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), 254–256. For Haig’s version, see Alexander M. Haig Jr., Caveat: Realism, Reagan, and Foreign Policy (New York: Macmillan, 1984), 311–316.
- 76.
See Edmund Morris, Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (New York: Random House, 1999), 463.
- 77.
See George Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993), 4.
- 78.
See George Schultz’s interview on December 18, 2002, in “The Ronald Reagan Oral History Project,” The Miller Institute of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.
- 79.
For his Senate hearing on July 13, 1982, see Department of State Bulletin, August 1982, 49–51.
- 80.
See the text of his UN address on September 30, 1982, in ibid., November 1982, 1–9.
- 81.
See the letter from Walker to Lee Bum Suk on September 23, 1982, in “Kim Dae Jung: Problems,” KNDA, 1982, 18,709: 222. Lee Bum Suk studied at Hosei University in Japan before 1945 and graduated from Korea University. He also studied at University of Maryland and George Washington University. He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1961 and served as ambassador to Tunisia and India. He became foreign minister in 1982 and died at Rangoon in 1983.
- 82.
Ibid., 18,709: 223–230.
- 83.
See “Memorandum of Conversation” between Lambertson and Ho Sung on October 8, 1982, in ibid., 16,709: 237.
- 84.
Author’s conversation with Paul Wolfowitz, April 2018.
- 85.
See James Mann, Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet (New York: Viking Penguin, 2004), 24–28.
- 86.
Kazuhiko Togo, Japan’s Foreign Policy, 1943–2003: The Quest for a Proactive Policy (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 165. Also see Chong-Sik Lee, Japan and Korea: The Political Dimension (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1985), 131–132. A grandson of wartime Foreign Minister Togo Shigenori, Togo served as Japanese ambassador to the Netherlands. Author’s conversation with Togo, June 2017.
- 87.
A copy of Hahm’s letter to Sigur on January 13, 1983, is in “Gaston Sigur Files,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. A son of Vice President Hahm Tae Yong, Hahm Pyong Choon studied at Northwestern University, Harvard Law School, and Yale Law School. He was a prominent legal scholar. He became a special assistant to President Park Chung Hee in 1970 and ambassador to the United States (1973–1977). After teaching at Yonsei University, he became President Chun’s secretary general in 1982. He died at Rangoon in 1983.
- 88.
Gaston Sigur’s letter to William P. Clark (NSA) on January 17, 1983, is in ibid. Clark (deputy secretary of state) succeeded Richard V. Allen as NSA in January 1982.
- 89.
New York Times, January 21, 1983.
- 90.
See the text of Weinberger’s memorandum to NSA William P. Clark on September 2, 1982, in “Executive Secretariat, NSC: Country File—South Korea,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 91.
See the text of William P. Clark’s memorandum dated January 29, 1983, in “Executive Secretariat, NSC: Country File—South Korea,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The Secretary of State had an oversight responsibility regarding FMS provisions.
- 92.
The United States allocated FMS credits for South Korea—$230 million for FY 1984, $230 million for FY 1985, and $163 million for FY 1986. For this information I am grateful to Ohn Chang Il.
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Lee, CJ. (2020). Embracing the Primacy of Alliance and Stability. In: Reagan Faces Korea. The Evolving American Presidency. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30500-0_2
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