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Background Koreans claim a history that goes back 5000 years, despite invasions, at one time or another, by all of its neighbors. Japan sought control of Korea at the end of the 19^th century, and in 1900 Japan and Russia discussed dividing their interests in Korea at the 38^th parallel. In July 1904 Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Taro and US Secretary of War William Taft had a meeting, captured in the "Taft-Katsura Memorandum," at which Japan tacitly accepted the U.S. sphere of influence in the Philippines and the United States tacitly accepted Japan's interest in Korea. When the Russo-Japanese war was concluded in September 1905 with the Treaty of Portsmouth, Russia also recognized Japan's interest in Korea, paving the way for Japan to annex the Korean Peninsula in 1910 without international protest. Japan remained in Korea as an occupying force until its surrender to the allied forces on August 15, 1945, a week after the USSR had declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria.

Post WWII and the Korean War After WWII, the USSR and the United States agreed to a temporary division of the Korean Peninsula at the 38^th parallel until a provisional government could be established and full independence restored. Instead, war between the two Koreas broke out in June 1950, with the USSR and China joining the North Korean side and the United States and 15 UN nations joining the South Korean side in a military action authorized by UN Resolution 84, which also placed the military action under U.S. command.

The brutality of the war - over a million lives were lost, over 30,000 of them American, and North Korea in particular suffered extensive bomb damage - created a deep enmity between the halves of the peninsula, known since 1948 as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the north and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the south. Many families were separated during the war as members went north or south seeking safety. Each country's constitution claims the whole peninsula, and promotes reunification as an urgent objective.

Post Korean War Although South Korea made remarkable economic achievements under military dictatorship, there were limitations on freedoms of speech and the press. South Korea's National Security Law declares that challenges to the government and positive statements about communism are illegal. The law essentially outlawed meaningful discourse on North Korea, as well as interaction with North Koreans, or visits to North Korea, even for family members separated by the war. A movement in South Korea emerged that fought for democracy in the South and then, as its leaders came into power in the late 1990s, promoted reconciliation with the North. Although the law is still in place, it is currently less rigorously enforced.

Meanwhile, North Koreans belittled South Koreans as "puppets" of the U.S. government, claiming both an economic and moral superiority over the South. Until recently, this dynamic was responsible for the North's unwillingness to negotiate with the South. Although small steps had been taken toward reconciliation since the 1970s, relations froze again after President Kim Young Sam refused to send a condolence message upon North Korean leader Kim Il Sung's death in 1994.

Warming Relations: The Sunshine Policy Kim Dae Jung, a South Korean democracy activist who had survived two assassination attempts by the South Korean government, was elected president of South Korea in 1997. He instituted the "Sunshine Policy" of engagement to promote reconciliation with the DPRK. The policy's name comes from the Aesop's fable in which the warmth of the sun succeeds in forcing a man to remove his coat, whereas the power of the wind had caused him to cling to his coat more tightly. The DPRK rejects this formulation, although it did respond positively at times to Kim Dae Jung's overtures. The June Summit of 2000 between Kim Dae Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, the first summit since the countries were established, epitomized Kim Dae Jung's approach.

The June Summit had a powerful effect in ROK. South Koreans expressed delight that North Koreans are "just like us" and South Korean NGOs and church groups began regular contacts with the DPRK that had been outlawed for half a century. This goodwill was magnified by widely-broadcast family reunions. The two countries made an agreement for the Hyundai Corporation to run tours to Mt. Kumgang, a North Korean mountain considered to be one the most beautiful on the peninsula.

Cooling Relations: The Missile Test and the Nuclear Test The June summit seems to have greatly mitigated South Korean fears of the North, with South Koreans favoring co-existence over confrontation. However, support for intensive economic engagement began to wane as the economy in the South faltered and South Koreans sought greater "reciprocity" from the DPRK. Many in the South were critical of the delay in the implementation of certain North-South agreements, such as reopening railway lines connecting the two Koreas or a visit from Kim Jong Il to Seoul.

Nevertheless, President Roh Moo Hyun, elected in 2002, continued reconciliation efforts. Roh's "Policy for Peace and Prosperity" intensified engagement though increased humanitarian assistance to the DPRK and substantial government-sponsored investment in Kaesong, a free trade zone in North Korea just over the DMZ. However, the DPRK's 2006 missile and nuclear tests deeply angered the government and many South Korean citizens. Although investment in Kaesong continued, the ROK temporarily suspended fertilizer and food shipments.

In December 2006, the South Korean National Assembly, with the opposition party (the GNP) in the majority, voted to decrease government spending on inter-Korean cooperation projects from 650 billion won ($693 million) to 500 billion won ($530 million). However, the two main political parties in the ROK both promote engagement with the DPRK; the differences in their platforms are limited to the scale of economic and humanitarian assistance and the level of reciprocity demanded from the DPRK. For example, on February 14, 2007 Park Gyuen-hye, Chairwoman of the GNP, stated that "Agreement and trust must be built between the two Koreas to form a substantial basis for openness and exchange."

Last updated April 4, 2007