Korea's return to Asia: An analysis of new moves in South Korean diplomacy in the 1960s and 1970s.

摘要

As the title symbolically indicates, "Korea's Return to Asia" attempts to demonstrate how South Korea's new leadership, after the military revolution in 1961, transformed Korea's passive diplomatic posture into an active, outward-directed foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s.;The study finds that the major determinants which led South Korea to practice active diplomacy in Asia were as follows: (1) changes in the international power configuration; (2) a perceived waning in the credibility of American commitments in the Asian continent; (3) the imperatives of diplomatic competition vis-a-vis North Korea; (4) the domestic need of new export markets and raw materials for the expanding South Korean economy; (5) a new military-oriented leadership with an externally-directed adventurous outlook; and finally, (6) South Korean concern for its status and prestige in Asia.;"Korea's Return to Asia" argues that the declining security credibility in the United States alliance system in the late 1960s stimulated South Korea's adoption of a more self-reliant posture in its foreign relations. The study also maintains that even though South Korea was a small power in a protectorate alliance system, South Korea could successfully launch a new mode of active foreign policy, at least in part, due to its newly-formed domestic political leadership. As a consequence, South Korea seems to have enhanced its national status in Asian regional politics.;As its focal point, the study analyzes South Korea's new Asian policy from 1965 to 1975 including: the South Korea-Japan Normalization Treaty; South Korean participation in the Vietnam War; and the South Korea-originated Asian and Pacific Council (ASPAC). This study utilizes three theories of international relations--the "security-prosperity-prestige" paradigm, the alliance politics theory, and the small-power politics theory--in explaining the changing aspects of South Korea's foreign policy.