North and South Korea -- Page 12

North Korea since 1953

Chinese troops aided North Korea during the Korean War, but North Korea tried to disassociate itself from the dispute between China and the USSR during the 1960s; in 1966, North Korea declared its political independence. In 1968 tensions increased when the crew of the U.S. ship Pueblo were held and charged with spying, but neither Moscow nor Beijing intervened. President Kim Il Sung, raised to demigod status, chose his eldest son, Kim Jung Il, as his eventual successor. North Korea boycotted the 1988 Seoul Olympics when its bid to co-host the games failed. Talks between the two Koreas on trade links and cross-border visits have been held on and off since 1972, and in September 1990 their prime ministers met for the first time since the Korean War. North Korea announced in 1990 that it would seek full normalization of its relations with Japan. The following year, in a further effort to end its growing diplomatic isolation, North Korea was granted UN membership and said that it would permit international inspection of its announced that it was withdrawing from adherence to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refused to allow international inspection of its nuclear power sites.

South Korea since 1953

In 1960 riots forced the resignation of President Syngman Rhee. The new president, Chang Myun, was overthrown in 1961 in a military coup that brought Gen. Park Chung Hee to power. Park, elected president in 1963, did much to restore economic prosperity. Rising protests against his authoritarian rule, however, led to the imposition of military rule in 1972. In 1975 all political opposition was banned. The Park regime ended with his assassination by the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency in 1979. Premier Choi Kyu Hah was then elected president.

In May 1980 protests against the re-imposition of martial law led to an uprising in Kwangju that was harshly suppressed by the army. Soon after, a military committee led by Chun Doo Hwan assumed power. A new constitution was approved in October, and Chun became president in 1981. His army-backed Democratic Justice party (DJP) lost seats in the 1985 legislative elections, and in June 1987 the worst political protests since 1980 erupted.

Roh Tae Woo, Chun's successor as head of the DJP, reached an agreement with opposition leaders Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young Sam in September on a new constitution providing for direct presidential elections. Roh won the elections on Dec. 20, 1987, but with only 37% of the vote over a divided opposition. He assumed office on Feb. 25, 1988. In the April 1988 legislative elections, three opposition parties won 164 of the 299 seats. In November former president Chun apologized to the nation for abuses of power by his regime. In 1990 the DJP and two leading opposition parties merged to form the new Democratic Liberal Party (DLP). In 1991 the DLP won a majority of seats in the first local elections since the 1961 coup; it captured 149 of 299 seats in the March 1992 legislative elections. Former dissident Kim Young Sam, the DLP candidate, won the December 1992 presidential election.

Both South Korea and North Korea became members of the United Nations in 1991. In December, the two signed a landmark treaty of reconciliation and non-aggression. South Korea established diplomatic relations with China, North Korea's only major ally, in 1992.