Abstract
This chapter addresses a dilemma faced by Reagan in dealing with a number of thorny diplomatic issues related to Kim Dae Jung’s status. Reagan was successful in persuading Chun to reduce Kim’s sentence and to allow his exile in America. When Kim began to undertake political activities in America, the Reagan administration encountered diplomatic friction with the Chun government. When Kim returned home in February 1985, South Korean security agents made a major diplomatic blunder by mistreating Kim and his American “escorts” at Kimpo Airport. The furor over Kim’s return home beclouded the atmosphere for Chun’s visit to the United States. While the South Koreans proposed that Reagan should publicly praise Chun’s leadership in achieving democratic development, he refused to accept this proposal and exhibited a deliberate gesture of distance from Chun.
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Notes
- 1.
See the text of Edward Kennedy’s statement in Korea and the United States Congress: 1945–2000 (Washington, DC: The Korean Embassy in the United States, 2001), 1144–1145. For the role of Kennedy, see Chae-Jin Lee, A Troubled Peace: U.S. Policy and the Two Koreas (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), xx.
- 2.
For the appeal and the list of co-signers, see Korea and the United States Congress, 1144–1149.
- 3.
Richard Walker, Hanguk ui chuok [Korean Remembrances] (Seoul: Hanguk munwon, 1998), 42.
- 4.
Kim Dae Jung, Chaseojon [Memoirs] (Seoul: Samin, 2010), 451.
- 5.
The statement issued on December 16, 1982, is available in “Kim Dae Jung: Release” (declassified diplomatic documents in Korean: Korea National Diplomatic Archives) (hereafter KNDA), 1982, 18,710: 004.
- 6.
For Rich’s statement issued on December 15, 1982, see “Reagan’s Visit to Korea,” KNDA, 1983, 9188: 006.
- 7.
See a statement by Molt Allen on December 16, 1982 in “Kim Dae Jung: Release,” KNDA, 1982, 18,910: 127.
- 8.
The text of Shultz’s letter to Lee Bum Suk on December 20, 1982, is in ibid., 18,710: 158.
- 9.
Ibid., 18,710: 114–115.
- 10.
A copy of Kennedy’s letter to Chun Doo Hwan on December 16, 1982 is in ibid., 18,710: 164.
- 11.
A copy of Solarz’s statement is in ibid., 18,710: 113.
- 12.
Cleveland-Gong communications are in ibid., 18,710: 149. A student of law at Seoul National University, Gong entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1956. He was assistant foreign minister in 1981–1983 and consul-general in New York in 1986. Later he became ambassador to Russia and Japan and foreign minister (1994–1996).
- 13.
Kim Dae Jung, Memoirs, 455. Moon Dong Hwan (Stephen Tonghwan Moon) is a Presbyterian pastor who studied at Western, Princeton, and Hartford theological seminaries. He was a leading Christian dissident, along with his brother, Moon Ik Hwan, in South Korea. He was once imprisoned because of his alleged political activities. Han Wan Sang (BA, Seoul National University; PhD, Emory University), after dismissal from Seoul National University, began his exile in America in 1980. He was later reinstated at Seoul National University. He served as minister of national unification and minister of education. Choi Sung Il (BA, Seoul National University; PhD, University of Kansas) was professor of political science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
- 14.
For a report on Kim’s arrival, see Washington Post, December 24, 1982.
- 15.
Cited in New York Times, December 25, 1982.
- 16.
New York Times, December 24, 1982.
- 17.
A copy of Hahm’s letter to Walker on December 17, 1982, is available in The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (Simi Valley, CA). Also see Walker, Korean Remembrances, 43.
- 18.
New York Times, December 27, 1982.
- 19.
Lambertson met Ho Sung on December 29, 1982. See “Kim Dae Jung: Release,” 18,719: 222.
- 20.
A copy of Kim Dae Jung’s letter to Reagan on January 3, 1983, is at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 21.
Quoted in George Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993), 979.
- 22.
Asahi Shimbun, January 13, 1983.
- 23.
The statement was dated March 15, 1983. As reported in Kim Dae Jung jejak mokrokjip [The Catalog of Kim Dae Jung’s Works] (Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 2015).
- 24.
See the text of Kim Dae Jung’s speech on February 15, 1983, in Korea and the United States Congress, 1140–1142.
- 25.
Reported by Shin Doo Byung, a South Korean diplomat on leave in Boston, in “Kim Dae Jung: Activities 1983” (declassified diplomatic document in Korean: KNDA), 1983, 18,782: 127.
- 26.
The entire text of Kim Dae Jung’s lengthy thesis was included in “Kim Dae Jung: Activities 1984,” KNDA, 1984, 18,771: 009–128. For research and writing for his thesis, Kim was helped by Dr. You Jong Keun, who was professor of economics at Rutgers University at that time. You were a tutor in economics and an interpreter for Kim. Later You served as an economic advisor for President Kim Dae Jung and as governor of North Cholla Province. Author’s communication with You, May 2019.
- 27.
For Kim’s speaking engagements at US universities, see Kim Dae Jung, “miguk cheryu yinyon ui hoego” [“reflections on two-year sojourn in the United States”], in Sindonga (July 1985), 194–228.
- 28.
The text of Kim Dae Jung’s Emory speech (“Christianity, Human Rights and Democracy”) on March 10, 1983, is in “Kim Dae Jung: Activities 1983,” KNDA, 1983, 18,764: 110–116. Choi Sung Il and Han Wan Sang accompanied Kim to Atlanta.
- 29.
Author’s conversation with Richard Allen, July 2003.
- 30.
Author’s conversation with one of Walker’s former students, June 2015.
- 31.
He sold all pieces at the price between $1000 and $2000. See “reflections on two-year sojourn in the United States.” Also see Donald Kirk, Korea Betrayed: Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 99.
- 32.
A copy of Kim’s letter to Sigur in July 1983 and an issue of Korea Scope are in “Gaston Sigur Files,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 33.
Sigur’s letter to Robert M. Kimmitt (executive secretary of the National Security Council) on April 2, 1984, is in “Gaston Sigur Files,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 34.
Kim Dae Jung, Memoirs, 461–464.
- 35.
See Choi Sung Il’s obituary in Washington Post, July 5, 1991. For Kim’s last meeting with Choi in December 1986, see Kim Dae Jung yonbo [The Chronology of Kim Dae Jung’s Activities], vol.1 (Seoul: Yonsei University Kim Dae Jung Library, 2009), 503.
- 36.
Author’s communication with Lambertson, October 2017, and David Lambertson’s interview in August 2004 for Foreign Affairs Oral History Project of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (hereafter ADST), Library of Congress.
- 37.
“Memorandum of Conversation” between Walker and Lee Bum Suk on August 2, 1983, in “Kim Dae Jung: Activities 1983,” KNDA, 1983, 18,783: 042–043.
- 38.
Quoted in New York Times Magazine, December 23, 1984. Lew responded to Kennedy’s earlier letter addressed to President Chun on September 10, 1984. The text of Lew’s letter on October 15, 1984, is in “Kim Dae Jung: Activities 1984” (declassified diplomatic document: KNDA), 1984, 18,773: 133–135.
- 39.
The text of Kennedy’s letter dated November 27, 1984, is in ibid., 18,774: 002–004.
- 40.
A copy of Kim Dae Jung’s letter to Shultz on September 10, 1984 is ibid., 18,771: 049–052.
- 41.
The copy of Kim Dae Jung’s letter to Shultz on September 10, 1984 in The Kim Dae Jung Presidential Library (Seoul) does not include the phrase “a free market economy.” It is unclear whether this omission is intentional or a typographical error. Also see Kim Dae Jung, Memoirs, 481–482.
- 42.
For Kim Dae Jung’s statement, see “Kim Dae Jung: Activities 1984,” KNDA, 1984, 18,771: 053–055.
- 43.
Ibid., 18,771: 052.
- 44.
A report on the Shultz-Lee meeting on September 26, 1984, is in ibid., 18,773: 070. Lee Won Kyung studied at Tokyo University before 1945 and graduated from Seoul National University’s college of commerce. He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1948. He was minister of sports (1982–1983) and foreign minister (1983–1986). He served as ambassador to Japan (1988–1991).
- 45.
“Memorandum of Conversation” between Wolfowitz and Lee Won Kyung on October 4, 1984, in ibid., 18,773: 024.
- 46.
The meeting between Wolfowitz and Kim Dae Jung was explained by William Sherman (deputy assistant secretary of state) to Ro Chang Hee (minister at the South Korean Embassy in Washington) on October 5, 1984. See ibid., 18,773: 027–029.
- 47.
Quoted in Kirk, Korea Betrayed, 103–104.
- 48.
Ibid., 107. Detailed reports on the event are in “Kim Dae Jung: Activities 1984,” KNDA, 1984, 18,773: 174 and 18,774: 023.
- 49.
New York Times Magazine, December 23, 1984.
- 50.
A copy of Kim Dae Jung’s letter to Reagan on January 7, 1985, is available at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 51.
On January 7, 1985, Ban Ki Moon reported to the South Korean Embassy in Washington. The following day Ambassador Lew sent a cable to Foreign Minister Lee Won Kyung. See “Kim Dae Jung: Return to Korea” (declassified diplomatic document in Korean: KNDA), 1985, 18,754: 006. A graduate of Seoul National University, Ban entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1970. He studied at Harvard’s Kennedy School in 1985. Later he became foreign minister (2004–2006) and UN secretary general (2007–2016).
- 52.
The text of the letter and the list of co-signers are in ibid., 18,754: 014–021.
- 53.
Ibid., 18,754: 040.
- 54.
Walker met Chun on January 22, 1985. US disappointment was conveyed to Park Kun Woo (director-general for American Affairs) by Paul Cleveland (minister at the US Embassy in Seoul) on January 23. See ibid., 18,754: 073–074.
- 55.
Ibid., 18,754: 146–147.
- 56.
See the report filed on January 25, 1985, in The 1987 Korean Democratization Movement in Retrospective: A Critical Oral History, Briefing Book I (1985) (published in Seoul by The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History and The Wilson Center, 2017), 18–20.
- 57.
The meeting with Kim Dae Jung was included in a cable that Shultz sent to Walker on January 25, 1985. Accordingly, Walker explained the cable to Foreign Minister Lee Won Kyung at the Hilton Hotel on the same day. Ibid., 18,754: 117–129.
- 58.
Walker, Korean Remembrances, 49–50.
- 59.
See “Memorandum of Conversation” between Walker and Lee Won Kyung on January 24, 1985, in “Kim Dae Jung: Return to Korea,” KNDA, 1985, 18,754: 095–096.
- 60.
See the text of Kim Dae Jung’s letter on January 26, 1985, in ibid., 18,754: 176–177. Straub developed friendly relations with Kim, who invited Straub and his Korea-born wife to a dinner. Author’s communication with Straub, December 2018.
- 61.
The text of Kim’s speech on January 31, 1985, is in “Kim Dae Jung: Return to Korea,” 18,754: 041.
- 62.
See Speakes’ statement on February 2, 1985, in Japan Times, February 3, 1985, or in “Chun Doo Hwan’s Visit to America 1985” (declassified diplomatic document in Korean: KNDA), 1985, 22,008: 004.
- 63.
See the cable dated February 4, 1985, in “Kim Dae Jung: Return to Korea,” KNDA, 1985, 18,756: 099–101.
- 64.
Thomas P. H. Dunlop’s interviews in July, September, October, and November 1996 for Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, ADST.
- 65.
See Kim Dae Jung, Memoirs, 460, and Kim Dae Jung, “reflections on two-year sojourn in the United States.”
- 66.
“Kim Dae Jung: Return to Korea,” KNDA, 1985, 18,757: 066.
- 67.
The Sun, February 8, 1985.
- 68.
Washington Post, February 8, 1985.
- 69.
Author’s communication with Quinones, November 2017.
- 70.
Los Angeles Times, February 8, 1985.
- 71.
A student of political science at Seoul National University, Lee Sang Ock joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1957 and served at the South Korean Embassy in Washington for several years. He became assistant foreign minister in 1983 and vice foreign minister in 1984. Later he was foreign minister (1990–1993). Author’s interview with Lee Sang Ock, September 2002.
- 72.
The US Embassy in Seoul shared its judgment with the British Embassy in Seoul. See a confidential cable written on April 2, 1985 by the British Embassy in “Kim Dae Jung Return: What Happened at the Airport,” The 1987 Korean Democratization Movement in Retrospective, Briefing Book I (1985), 440.
- 73.
See Walker’s and Cleveland’s phone calls with Lee Sang Ock in “Kim Dae Jung: Return to Korea,” KNDA, 1985, 18,757: 151–154. Author’s interview with Lee, September 2002.
- 74.
See the letter in ibid., 18,756: 233–234.
- 75.
See Walker’s report to the State Department, ibid., 18,758: 235–236.
- 76.
See Los Angeles Times, February 8, 1985, and “Kim Dae Jung: Return to Korea,” KNDA, 1985, 18,758: 001–020.
- 77.
Author’s communications with Quinones, November 2017 and January 2019.
- 78.
Walker, Korean Remembrances, 48–53.
- 79.
New York Times, February 8, 1985.
- 80.
Walker, Korean Remembrances, 50.
- 81.
“Memorandum of Conversation” between Walker and Foreign Minister Lee Won Kyung on February 11, 1985, in “Kim Dae Jung: Return to Korea,” KNDA, 1985, 18,758: 196–203.
- 82.
“Memorandum of Conversation” between Armacost and Lew Byong Hion on February 11, 1985, in ibid., 18,758: 278–283.
- 83.
Kirk, Korea Betrayed, 108.
- 84.
Washington Post, February 22, 1985.
- 85.
For Brown’s statement, see Department of State Bulletin, July 1985, 54–55.
- 86.
“Memorandum of Conversation” between Armacost and Foreign Minister Lee Won Kyung on March 21, 1985, in “Memorandum of Conversation 1984–1985” (declassified diplomatic documents in Korean: KNDA), 1985, 21,013: 045–055. For Armacost’s press conference on March 22, 1985, see ibid., 21,013: 057–064.
- 87.
See Kim Dae Jung, “reflections on two-year sojourn in the United States.”
- 88.
See Charles Hill’s memorandum dated December 5, 1984, in “Gaston Sigur Failes,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 89.
For several confidential planning documents for Chun’s visit, see “Chun Doo Hwan’s Visit to America 1985,” KNDA, 1985, 21,999: 014–016 and 040–044.
- 90.
For the firm’s report prepared in March 1985, see ibid., 21,998: 298–300.
- 91.
Discussions between Walker and Chun Doo Hwan on April 22, 1985, were reported in Foreign Minister Lee Won Kyung’s cable to Ambassador Lew Byong Hion, in ibid., 22,000: 099–100.
- 92.
See David Straub, Anti-Americanism in Democratizing South Korea (Stanford, CA: Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, 2015), 36. This information was reconfirmed in author’s communication with Straub, December 2018.
- 93.
See South Korean proposals in “Chun Doo Hwan’s Visit to America 1985,” KNDA, 1985, 22,000: 023–024, 064–067, 117–118, and 185.
- 94.
“Memorandum of Conversation” between Shultz and Foreign Minister Lee Won Kyung on April 26, 1985, in ibid., 21,999: 077–082 and 083–096. Author’s conversation with Wolfowitz in April 2018.
- 95.
The original US draft is in “Chun Doo Hwan’s Visit to America 1985,” KNDA, 1985, 22,000: 119–120.
- 96.
For Reagan’s statement at a joint press conference, see Department of State Bulletin, August 1985, 44–45, or “Remarks Following Discussions With President Chun Doo Hwan of the Republic of Korea,” in “The Public Papers of Ronald Reagan,” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
- 97.
On May 1, 1986, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared a confidential report “The Outcomes of the President’s Visit to the United States,” in “Chun Doo Hwan’s Visit to America 1985,” 21,999: 166–171. The report discussed the contents of the Reagan-Chun meetings.
- 98.
See Chun’s statement in Department of State Bulletin, August 1985, 44–45.
- 99.
For a report on Chun Doo Hwan’s activities and speeches in America, see In Pursuit of Commitments: President Chun Doo Hwan’s Visit to the United States, April 24–29, 1985, ed. H. Edward Kim (Seoul: Chong Wa Dae Press Corps, 1985).
- 100.
The Reagan Diaries, ed. Douglas Brinkley (New York: Harper Perennial, abridged paperback edition, 2009), 319.
- 101.
Gregg Brazinsky, Nation Building in South Korea: Koreans, Americans, and the Making of Democracy (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2007), 245.
- 102.
Honolulu Advertiser, April 28, 1985.
- 103.
For Chun’s report, see Kyunghyang Shinmun, April 30, 1985.
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Lee, CJ. (2020). Kim Dae Jung: Exile in America and Its Aftermath. In: Reagan Faces Korea. The Evolving American Presidency. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30500-0_4
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