Foreign relations of North Korea

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North Korea

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The foreign relations of North Korea are often tense and unpredictable. Since the ceasefire of the Korean War in 1953, the North Korean government has been largely isolationist, becoming one of the world's most authoritarian societies. Technically still in a state of war with South Korea and the United States, North Korea has maintained close relations with China and often limited ones with other nations.

Both Korean governments claim that the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) is only a temporary administrative line, not a permanent border. A demilitarized zone (DMZ) extends for 2,000 meters (about 1.25 miles) on both sides of the MDL.

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[edit] Relations with other countries

North Korea has a history of poor relations with neighboring countries. During the 1970s and 1980s, North Korean abductions of Japanese and South Koreans occurred. Although having since partly resolved the issue by admitting its role in the abductions, it remains a contentious issue with the two countries. In addition, the United States accuses North Korea of counterfeiting large numbers of high quality U.S. bills. However, South Korea has maintained a Sunshine policy towards North Korea since the 1990s, stressing Korean reunification and thus often going to great lengths to avoid antagonizing the leadership of the country.

Since the late 1980s, North Korea's nuclear program has become the most pressing issue in international affairs. After allegations from the United States about the continued existence of a military nuclear program in defiance of the 1994 Agreed Framework, North Korea admitted to the existence of uranium enrichment activities and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty on January 10, 2003. After insisting on bilateral negotiations with the United States, it agreed to six-party talks between itself, the United States, South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan in August 2003. The talks continued for two years until an agreement was reached on September 19, 2005, which was placed under severe strain by the subsequent nuclear test by North Korea in October 2006. Since then, a very similar agreement was reached on February 13, 2007, that includes normalizing US-North Korean and Japanese-North Korean diplomatic ties on the condition that North Korea freeze its Yongbyon nuclear facility.[1][2]

After 1945, the Soviet Union supplied the economic and military aid that enabled North Korea to mount its invasion of the South in 1950. Soviet aid and influence continued at a high level during the Korean war; as mentioned, the Soviet Union was largely responsible for rebuilding North Korea's economy after the cessation of hostilities. In addition, the assistance of Chinese volunteers during the war and the presence of these troops until 1958 gave China some degree of influence in North Korea. In 1961, North Korea concluded formal mutual security treaties with the Soviet Union (inherited by Russia) and China, which have not been formally ended. For most of the Cold War, North Korea followed a policy of equidistance between the Soviet Union and China by accepting favors from both while avoiding a clear preference for either.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, the Soviet-backed Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia, and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan created strains between China and the Soviet Union and, in turn, in North Korea's relations with its two major communist allies. North Korea tried to avoid becoming embroiled in the Sino-Soviet split, obtaining aid from both the Soviet Union and China and trying to avoid dependence on either. Following Kim Il Sung's 1984 visit to Moscow, there was a dramatic improvement in Soviet-DPRK relations, resulting in renewed deliveries of advanced Soviet weaponry to North Korea and increases in economic aid.

South Korea established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1990 and the People's Republic of China in 1992, which put a serious strain on relations between North Korea and its traditional allies. Moreover, the fall of communism in eastern Europe in 1989 and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 had resulted in a significant drop in communist aid to North Korea, resulting in largely decreased relations with Russia. Despite these changes and its past reliance on this military and economic assistance, North Korea proclaims a militantly independent stance in its foreign policy in accordance with its official ideology of Juche, or self-reliance.

At the same time, North Korea maintains membership in a variety of multilateral organizations. It became a member of the UN in September 1991. North Korea also belongs to the Food and Agriculture Organization; the International Civil Aviation Organization; the International Postal Union; the UN Conference on Trade and Development; the ITU; the UN Development Programme; the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization; the World Health Organization; the World Intellectual Property Organization; the World Meteorological Organization; the International Maritime Organization; the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Non-Aligned Movement.

In July 2000, North Korea began participating in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), as Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun attended the ARF ministerial meeting in Bangkok July 26-27. The DPRK also expanded its bilateral diplomatic ties in that year, establishing diplomatic relations with Italy, Australia, and the Philippines. The United Kingdom established diplomatic relations with the DPRK on December 13, 2000[3], as did Germany and New Zealand on March 1, 2001[4] [5]. Other countries such as France, the United States, and South American nations do not have formal diplomatic ties with North Korea and have not announced any intention to have any. North Korea, however, maintains a delegation, not an embassy, near Paris.

In January 2008, North Korea closed its embassy in Canberra, citing financial difficulties. Embassy spokesman Pak Myong Guk explained: "It is very expensive to stay here in Australia. When our financial situation is to be resolved [sic] then I think our embassy will be re-established again here in Canberra." Australia and North Korea maintain diplomatic relations nonetheless. [6]

Steps have been taken to normalize US and Japanese ties since the landmark February 13, 2007 agreement reached, in exchange for North Korea freezing its nuclear facility at Yongbyon.

North Korea fired short-range missiles off its western coast March 28, 2008, told a South Korean defense source. South Korea's presidential office dismissed reports of the missile launches as part of "ordinary military training" by the communist state. On March 27, 2008, the Seoul-government pulled 11 of its diplomats from an industrial park the two countries operate in North Korea. Their departure followed comments made in the week of March 17, 2008 by South Korean Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong. He said it would be hard to expand the industrial complex without North Korean progress on denuclearization.[7]

[edit] Reunification efforts

In August 1971, both North and South Korea agreed to hold talks through their respective Red Cross societies with the aim of reuniting the many Korean families separated following the division of Korea and the Korean War. After a series of secret meetings, both sides announced on July 4, 1972, an agreement to work toward peaceful reunification and an end to the hostile atmosphere prevailing on the peninsula. Officials exchanged visits, and regular communications were established through a North-South coordinating committee and the Red Cross.

However, these initial contacts broke down and ended in 1973 following the announcement by South Korean President Park Chung Hee that the South would seek separate entry into the United Nations and the kidnapping of South Korean opposition leader Kim Dae-Jung in Tokyo by the South Korean intelligence service. There was no other significant contact between North and South Korea until 1984.

Dialogue was renewed on several fronts in September 1984, when South Korea accepted the North's offer to provide relief goods to victims of severe flooding in South Korea. Red Cross talks to address the plight of separated families resumed, as did talks on economic and trade issues and parliamentary-level discussions. However, the North then unilaterally suspended all talks in January 1986, arguing that the annual US-South Korea "Team Spirit" military exercise was inconsistent with dialogue. There was a brief flurry of negotiations on co-hosting the 1988 Seoul Olympics, which ended in failure, and were followed by the 1987 KAL Flight 858 bombing.

In a major initiative in July 1988, South Korean President Roh Tae Woo called for new efforts to promote North-South exchanges, family reunification, inter-Korean trade and contact in international forums. Roh followed up this initiative in a UN General Assembly speech in which South Korea offered to discuss security matters with the North for the first time.

Initial meetings that grew out of Roh's proposals started in September 1989. In September 1990, the first of eight prime minister-level meetings between North Korean and South Korean officials took place in Seoul, beginning an especially fruitful period of dialogue. The prime ministerial talks resulted in two major agreements: the Agreement on Reconciliation, Nonaggression, Exchanges, and Cooperation (the Basic Agreement) and the Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula (the Joint Declaration).

The Basic Agreement, signed on December 13, 1991, called for reconciliation and nonaggression established four joint commissions. These commissions - on South-North reconciliation, South-North military affairs, South-North economic exchanges and cooperation, and South-North social and cultural exchange - were to work out the specifics for implementing the general terms of the Basic Agreement. Sub-committees to examine specific issues were created and liaison offices established in Panmunjom, but in the fall of 1992 the process came to a halt because of rising tension over the nuclear issue.

The Joint Declaration on denuclearization was initiated on December 31, 1991. It forbade both sides to test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, store, deploy, or use nuclear weapons and forbade the possession of nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment facilities. A procedure for inter-Korean inspection was to be organized and a North-South Joint Nuclear Control Commission (JNCC) was mandated with verification of the denuclearization of the peninsula.

On January 30, 1992, the DPRK also signed a nuclear safeguards agreement with the IAEA, as it had pledged to do in 1985 when acceding to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This safeguards agreement allowed IAEA inspections to begin in June 1992. In March 1992, the JNCC was established in accordance with the Joint Declaration, but subsequent meetings failed to reach agreement on the main issue of establishing a bilateral inspection regime.

As the 1990s progressed, concern over the North's nuclear program became a major issue in North-South relations and between North Korea and the US. The lack of progress on implementation of the joint nuclear declaration's provision for an inter-Korean nuclear inspection regime led to reinstatement of the U.S.-South Korea Team Spirit military exercise for 1993. The situation worsened rapidly when North Korea, in January 1993, refused IAEA access to two suspected nuclear waste sites and then announced in March 1993 its intent to withdraw from the NPT. During the next 2 years, the US held direct talks with the DPRK. that resulted in a series of agreements on nuclear matters (see, under U.S. Policy Toward North Korea, U.S. Efforts on Denuclearization). During former US President Jimmy Carter's 1994 visit, Kim Il Sung agreed to a first-ever North-South summit. The two sides went ahead with plans for a meeting in July but had to shelve it because of Kim's death.

Eleven South Korean diplomats left an industrial park, in the North Korean city of Kaesong, near the border between the two nations their country runs with North Korea on March 27, 2008 after North Korea demanded their withdrawal. Their departure follows comments made in the week of March 17, 2008 by South Korean Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong. He said it would be hard to expand the industrial complex without North Korean progress on denuclearization.[8]

[edit] Nuclear program

Main article: Six-party talks
Main article: North Korean nuclear weapons program

North Korea's nuclear program started with Soviet help in the 1980s, on condition that it joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), with a 5MW(e) reactor in Yongbyon. After that, a 50MW(e) reactor was discussed.

Concerns that North Korea had non-civilian nuclear ambitions were first raised in the late 1980s and almost resulted in their withdrawal from the NPT in 1994. However, the Agreed Framework and the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) temporarily resolved this crisis by having the US and several other countries agree that in exchange for dismantling its nuclear weapons program, two light-water reactors (LWRs) would be provided.

This agreement broke down in 2001 as relations with the US soured. It then announced it would withdraw from the NPT in 2003 after the US refused to follow the NPT and accused North Korea in late 2002 of continuing its nuclear weapons program in contravention of the NPT. North Korea at the time denied these allegations and insisted upon its right to produce nuclear energy for civilian purposes, as allowed by Article X of the NPT.

Following this withdrawal, North Korea's neighbours quickly sought a diplomatic solution to an escalating crisis. This resulted in a series of meetings held periodically in Beijing from 2003, known as the six-party talks. Its success has been questioned as US-NK bilateral relations have been the main aggravating factor. For example, North Korea declared on February 10, 2005 that it had nuclear weapons. On October 6, 2006, North Korea then announced it had successfully detonated a nuclear bomb. In response, the US froze North Korean bank assets. This resulted in a 13-month postponement of the six-party talks until mid-December, 2006. The third (and last) phase of the fifth round of six-party talks have been held on 8 February 2007, and implementation of the agreement reached at the end of the round has been successful according to the requirements of steps to be taken by all six parties within 30 days, and within 60 days after the agreement, including normalization of US-North Korean and Japanese-Korean diplomatic ties, among other things. At the time of writing, the 30 days commitments have generally been met by all parties, with further talks due to be scheduled.

North Korea threatened to bolster its nuclear deterrent March 3, 2008 in response to U.S.-South Korean war games, striking a discordant note after a week of cultural diplomacy that raised hopes of warmer ties between Washington and Pyongyang with the 2008 New York Philharmonic visit to North Korea.[1]

U.S. intelligence officials told members of the United States Congress on April 24, 2008 that North Korea was helping Syria to build a nuclear facility, which was was bombed by Israeli planes in September 2007. It is less clear whether North Korea had provided or was about to provide essential fuel components to Syria. [2]

[edit] Territorial disputes

The Demarcation Line provides a tense border with South Korea. In addition, a 33 km section of boundary with China in the Baekdu Mountain area is indefinite. North Korea also currently claims sovereignty over the entire Korean peninsula, though this is rarely heard of.

[edit] Diplomacy

North Korea is one of the few countries in which the giving of presents still plays a significant role in diplomatic protocol, as it once did with monarchs and chieftains. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) regularly reports that Kim Jong-il has received a floral basket or gift from a foreign leader or organization.[9] The announcements never mention what sort of gift, but Kim has a large collection of cultural and other souvenirs from leaders all over the world, which is partly or entirely on public display. During a 2000 visit to Pyongyang, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave Kim a basketball signed by Michael Jordan as he takes an interest in NBA basketball.[10]

North Korea's diplomacy with the United States and Japan is marked by frequent dire warnings through KCNA about its military capabilities. It regards seemingly minor statements and actions in these countries as declarations of renewed war and once responded by threatening to turn South Korea into a "sea of fire" by firing its artillery along the DMZ at Seoul, though the official who made this threat was immediately relieved of his position.[citation needed]

New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters took a trip to Pyongyang on November 20, 2007. The Foreign Affairs Minister had talks with President Kim Yong-nam in his two-day visit to the communist regime. Areas of in which New Zealand is looking to co-operate in could include agriculture, training and conservation. The lack of trade to the UN-sanctioned state has led to the vast poverty-stricken regions in N. Korea, resulting in almost NZD$8.5 million of aid to various organizations that assist in the development of farming regions and humanitarian assistance.[5]

The 2008 New York Philharmonic visit to North Korea marked the first presentation of a major U.S. cultural group to North Koreans.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Rice hails N Korea nuclear deal", BBC News, 2007-02-13. Retrieved on 2007-02-13. 
  2. ^ Scanlon, Charles. "The end of a long confrontation?", BBC News, 2007-02-13. Retrieved on 2007-02-13. 
  3. ^ FCO: Country Profile: North Korea
  4. ^ Auswärtiges Amt: Länderinformation
  5. ^ a b North Korea - Country Information Paper - NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
  6. ^ "Cash-strapped Korea closes embassy", Herald Sun, January 22, 2008
  7. ^ "Report: North Korea test-fires missiles", CNN, March 28, 2008
  8. ^ "Pyongyang pressures S. Korean envoys to leave", CNN, March 27, 2008
  9. ^ Past news
  10. ^ Perlez, Jane (2000-10-25), ALBRIGHT REPORTS PROGRESS IN TALKS WITH NORTH KOREA, New York Times, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E2DB1231F936A15753C1A9669C8B63>. Retrieved on 6 May 2008 

[edit] External links

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