The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History

by Oberdorfer, Don

  Also, New York Times correspondent Michael Gordon and managing editor Josette Shiner of the Washington Times.

  IN SOUTH KOREA

  President Kim Young Sam and former presidents Choi Kyu Ha and Roh Tae Woo; Blue House national security advisers Chung Jung Uk and Ban Ki Mun; former presidential press secretaries Kim Seong Jin and Kim Sung Ik; former Blue House economic advisers Oh Won Choi, Kim Ki Whan, and Kim Jong In; and former spokesman Kim Hak Joon.

  Former prime ministers Lho Shin Yang, Roh Jae Bong, and Lee Hong Koo; Deputy Prime Minister Kwon O-Kie; and former deputy prime ministers Choi Yong Choi and Han Wan Sang.

  Former ministers of foreign affairs Choi Kwang Su, Choi Ho Joong, Lee Sang Ok, Han Sung Joo, Gong Ro Myung; Foreign Minister Yoo Chong Ha; former deputy foreign minister Park Soo Kil; former minister of home affairs Chung Ho Young; former minister of culture and information Lee Kyu Hyun; former minister of science and technology Kim Jin Hyon; and former chief of protocol Lee Byung Gi.

  Former ROK ambassadors to the United States Kim Kyong Won, Hyun Hong Choo, and Han Seung Soo and the current ambassador, Park Kun Woo; ROK ambassador to the United Nations (and currently foreign minister) Yoo Chong Ha; ROK ambassadors to China Roh Jae Won and Whang Byong Tae; unofficial negotiator with China Lee Soon Sok; and ROK ambassador to Russia Kim Suk Kyu.

  Former minister of defense Choo Yong Bok; Lieutenant General Park Young Ok, assistant minister of defense; retired general Kim Choi Chang; and Han Yong Sup of the National Defense University.

  Former directors of the Agency for National Security Planning Suh Dong Kwon and Kim Deok; deputy NSP director Rhee Byong Ho and former deputy director Sohn Jang Nae; former NSP special assistant (now National Assembly member) Lee Dong Bok; and former KCIA officials Kang In Duk and Chung Hong Jin.

  Former North-South negotiator Lim Dong Won; former delegate to the North-South talks Chung Hee Kyung and former North-South spokesman Chung Choo Hyun; Kim Dal Sul, of the North-South dialogue office; Kil Jeong Woo and Ahn Inhay of the Research Institute on National Reunification; Yu Suk Ryul and Kim Choong Nam of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security; and former vice minister of unification Song Yong Dae.

  Chung Ju Yung, founder and honorary chairman of the Hyundai group, and Kim Woo Choong, founder and chairman of the Daewoo group.

  Kim Dae Jung, opposition political leader; members of the National Assembly Chung Jey Moon, Hur Hwa Pyung, Kang Sin Ok, Kim Yoon Hwan, Lee Boo Young, Park Kye Dong, and Park Se Jik

  North Korean defectors Koh Young Hwan, Kim Hyun Hui, Kang Myung Do, and Colonel Choi Ju Hwal.

  Ahn Byung Joon of Yonsei University and Rhee Sang Woo of Sogang University.

  Kim Jin, reporter of Joong-ang Ilbo, Kim Yong Sam of Monthly Chosun, and Songhee Stella Kim of Time.

  I also wish to thank Russian diplomats in Seoul, Ambassador Georgi Kunaidze and Minister Georgi Toloraya; Siegfried Scheibe, former East German economic minister in the DPRK, now in the German Chamber of Commerce, Seoul; and David Steinberg, the representative in Seoul of the Asia Foundation.

  IN NORTH KOREA

  I met Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kim Yong Nam, Workers Party secretary Kim Yong Sun, Vice Minister of External Economic Affairs Kim Jong U, and other officials during my January 1995 trip. I wish to acknowledge the assistance of the Institute of Disarmament and Peace, Pyongyang, which made the arrangements and was the host of this visit.

  IN CHINA

  Wu Dawei, deputy director of Asian Affairs; Li Bing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and former Foreign Ministry official Li Xiang Wei.

  Tao Bing Wei, a leading Chinese expert on Korea, now a senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies; Pu Shan of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Jin Zhen Ji of the Institute of Contemporary International Relations; Xu Man Zhang, former Chinese military attaché; and Colonel Shi Jin Kun of the Institute of International Strategic Studies.

  At the Russian Embassy, Beijing, Ambassador Igor Rogachev and Minister Sergei Goncharov

  Mike Chinoy, CNN correspondent, Beijing.

  IN RUSSIA

  Former president Mikhail Gorbachev; former national security adviser Anatoly Chernyayev; former foreign minister Alexander Bessmertnykh; former ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin; Sergei Tarasenko, former Foreign Ministry official; Vadim Tkachenko, former director of Korean affairs of the Central Committee of the CPSU; Igor Rakhmanin, former Asian affairs director of the Central Committee of the CPSU; and Gorbachev aides Karen Brutents, Georgi Ostraumov, and Pavel Palazchenko.

  Yevgeni Primakov, then chief of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency, now foreign minister; Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Panov; and Yevgeni Afanasyev, Valery Denisov, and Vladimir Rakhmanin of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

  Mikhail Titerenko, director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, and Roald Seleviev of the institute.

  Vitaly Ignatenko, general director of ITAR-Tass news agency; Tass correspondent Vladimir Nadashkevich; journalists Yuri Sigov and Alexander Blatkovsky.

  IN JAPAN

  Kawashima Yutaka, director general of Asian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Okazaki Hisahiko, former Foreign Ministry official; Ambassador Endo Tetsuya, negotiator with North Korea; and Takeuchi Yukio, deputy chief of mission, Washington.

  Takemura Masayoshi, member of Japanese Diet.

  Okonogi Masao of Keio University and Major General Tsukamoto Katsuichi of the Research Institute for Peace and Security.

  IN VIENNA

  Director General Hans Blix of the International Atomic Energy Agency; Dmitri Perricos, director of East Asian safeguards operations; Olli Heinonen, chief inspector for North Korea; and Willy Theis, former chief inspector for North Korea.

  John Ritch, US ambassador to international organizations; and Mike Lawrence and Marvin Peterson, US mission officials.

  IN GERMANY

  Hans Maretzki, former ambassador of the GDR to North Korea; Gunter Unterbeck, former GDR diplomat; and Ann-Katrin Becker, former correspondent of the GDR news agency in Beijing.

  I also am grateful to several people whose insights were important but who asked that their names not be used, even in acknowledgment, and quite a few people who took the trouble to read and correct major chunks of the manuscript. You know who you are, and you have my thanks.

  Finally, I would like to thank those whose work was essential to the writing and editing of this book: Tong Kim, for translations from Korean; Mary Drake, for transcription of interviews; Zhaojin Ji, the secretary of the SAIS Asia program; Joy Harris, my literary agent; Bill Patrick, formerly of Addison-Wesley, who saw the merit in the book, and his colleague Sharon Broil, a wonderful editor who found ways to make it better; and my wife, Laura, my own best editor and inspiration.

  ROBERT CARLIN

  There are countless reasons to thank people for their help in the writing of a book. I am grateful to those mentioned below for their support in all forms, their insights, and their encouragement. In some cases, where it would be impolitic to name individuals, I hope my gratitude is clear.

  Dr. Gregory Albers, Bradley Babson, Jeffrey Bader, Jeffrey Baron, Stephen Bosworth, Robert Boynton, Hyesuk Brown, Kurt Campbell, Major General Edward C. Cardon, Frederick Carriere, Victor Cha, Mike Chinoy, Sang-hun Choe, Sherrie Chung, Peter Davis, Dr. Kenneth Dekleva, John Delury, Joseph DeTrani, Edward Dong, Thomas Fingar, Michael Finnegan, Carl Ford, Robert Gallucci, Christopher Green, Michael Green, Donald Gregg, Siegfried Hecker, Olli Heinonen, Christopher Hill, James Hoare, Allison Hooker, Thomas Hubbard, Eric John, Charles Kartman, Glenn Kessler, James Kelly, Duyeon Kim, Ambassador Sung Kim, Yuri Kim, Eric Latzky, Jean Lee, Ambassador Miklos Lengyel, John W. Lewis, Ambassador Eamonn McKee, Zarin Mehta, Niko Milonopoulos, James Person, John Podesta, Evan Ramstad, Samantha Ravich, Evans Revere, Daniel Russel, Gary Samore, Michael Schiffer, Gi-wook Shin, Leon Sigal, Kathleen Stephens, David Straub, Robert Suettinger, Sidney Syler, Jenny Town, Ezra Vogel, Lawrence Wilkerson, Jay Yim, Katharina Zellweger.r />
  Choi Jinwook, Choi Young-jin, Chung Chong-Wook, Chun Yung-woo, Dong Yongsueng, Han Sung-Joo, Hong Yang-ho, Hyun In-Taek, Im Tae Hee, Colonel (Retired) Jang Sam Yeol, Kim Hyunjin, Kim Sook, Kim Tae-hyo, Kim Young-mok, Kim Young-sik, Lee Hawon, Lim Dong-won, Lim Sungnam, Min Ji Kwon, Moon Chung-in, Moon Jae-in, General Moon Sung-mok, Park Jeong Eun, Rhee Bong-jo, Ryoo Kihl-jae, Shin Eun-seo, Song Min Soon, Suh Hoon, Wang Son-taek, Yang Chang Seok, Yoon Young-kwan, Yoo Sun, Yu Myong Hwan, Yun Byung-Se.

  Izumi Hajime, Sakamoto Takashi, Ambassador, Sasae Kenichiro, Tanaka Hitoshi.

  NOTES AND SOURCES

  According to an entry in the spiral-bound notebooks I kept as a journal, I first began thinking about a book on Korea in 1988, about the same time I began work on The Turn, my history of US-Soviet relations at the end of the Cold War. I realized even in that early note that this book would have to be a postretirement project, as it would take much time and travel that would be incompatible with full-time work for the Washington Post. Although there were a few interviews earlier, work began seriously after my retirement in May 1993. Over the next four years, I conducted more than 450 interviews in a variety of countries, consulted books and archives, and obtained new information under the Freedom of Information Act. With a few confidential exceptions, the principal interviewees and sources of materials are mentioned in the Acknowledgments.

  As in my earlier books, I am providing here information on the sources for The Two Koreas, except for those that were confidential or are well known to people in the field. In order to facilitate scholarly research, I deposited within the first half of 1998 copies of US documents used in this book that were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act in the National Security Archive, an independent nongovernmental research institute in Washington, where they will be available to any researcher.

  The following abbreviations are used in the notes:

  CWIHP—Cold War International History Project Bulletin (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars)

  DOS cable: Cable from the Department of State in Washington to the US Embassy in Seoul; date and subject are given if available

  Emb. cable: Cable to the Department of State in Washington from the US embassy in Seoul; date and subject are given if available

  FBIS: Foreign Broadcast Information Service, published by the US government

  KH: Korea Herald, an English-language newspaper in Seoul

  KIS Works: Kim Il Sung Works (Foreign Languages Publishing House), in English

  KT: Korea Times, an English-language newspaper in Seoul

  NYT: New York Times

  SED Archives: Archives of the Socialist (Communist) Unity Party of the former East Germany, obtained in Berlin (in German)

  USFK Hist: US Forces Korea /Eighth US Army Annual Historical Reports, the intelligence sections of which were declassified for me under the Freedom of Information Act; the year of the report quoted is given

  US-PRC Chronology: Richard H. Solomon, US-PRC Political Negotiations, 1967–1984: An Annotated Chronology (Rand, 1985), Secret (declassified 1994)

  WP: Washington Post

  CHAPTER I: WHERE THE WILD BIRDS SING

  DMZ setting, see Fran Kaliher of Two Harbors, MN, research associate of the International Crane Foundation; Yoon Moo Boo, “DMZ: Paradise for Migratory Birds,” Koreana (Winter 1995); and Jimmy Lee, inter view, July 8, 1995.

  The Emergence of Two Koreas: Historical details from Carter J. Eckert et al., Korea Old and New: A History (Ilchokak Publishers, for the Korea Institute, Harvard University, 1990), and interviews with Eckert. For invasions and occupations, Donald S. Macdonald, The Koreans (Westview, 1988), 1–2. Stertinius’s ignorance from Louis J. Halle, The Cold War as History (London: Chatto & Windus, 1967), 202n. The Whelan quote is from Richard Whelan, Drawing the Line (Little, Brown, 1990), 27. The Rusk quote is from Dean Rusk, As I Saw It (Penguin Books, 1990), 124. The Summers quote is from Summers telephone interview, February 11, 1997. The Henderson quote is from Gregory Henderson’s chapter in Divided Nations in a Divided World (David McKay, 1974), 43.

  War and Its Aftermath: Kim Il Sung on not sleeping, ciphered telegram from Shtykov to Vyshinsky, January 19, 1950, in “Korea, 1949–50,” Cold War International History Project Bulletin (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars) (Spring 1995): 8. For origins of the Korean War, see especially Kathryn Weathersby’s work for the Cold War International History Project. The casualty figures are from Whelan, Drawing the Line, 373. Kim Il Sung’s secret emissary was Hwang Tae Sung; his mission was described by Chinese and Russian sources as well as by Lee Dong Bok, interview, July 15, 1993.

  The Origins of Negotiation: For Kim Il Sung’s presence in Beijing, see Henry Kissinger, White House Years (Little, Brown, 1979), 751. For new insights into Chinese efforts to deal with Pyongyang immediately after the Kissinger visit, see Bernd Schaefer, “Overconfidence Shattered: North Korean Unification Policy, 1971–1975,” North Korea International Documentation Project (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), Working Paper 2, December 2010, 6. For Chinese military supply, see USFK Hist. 1974, Secret (declassified 1994). Kim Seong Jin quote, Kim interview, October 15, 1993. For Park remarks to correspondents, Son U Ryun, “Voice Testimony of Park Chung Hee,” Monthly Chosun (March 1993), in Korean.

  For Park letter to Nixon, Theodore Eliot, “Reply to President Park Chung Hee’s Letter on East Asian Problems,” Department of State Memorandum, November 4, 1971, Secret (declassified 1978); “For Ambassador,” Department of State Telegram (December 13, 1971), Secret (declassified 1996); and “Seoul Receives Assurances from Nixon on China Talks,” NYT, December 26, 1971. The Park quote on unprecedented peril is from Park Chung Hee, Korea Reborn (Prentice Hall, 1979), 48.

  For the secret plenum of the Workers Party, conversation of Hermann Axen (member of GDR Politburo) with DPRK ambassador Lee Chang Su (July 31, 1972), SED Archives. Henderson quote on KCIA is from Mark Clifford, Troubled Tiger (M. E. Sharpe, 1994), 85. Lee Hu Rak quotes are from Michael Keon, Korean Phoenix (Prentice Hall International, 1977), 129–130. This controversial book contains one of the few interviews with Lee on his Pyongyang mission. Lee was among a mere handful of Korean figures who declined to be interviewed for this book. On Lee Hu Rak’s harrowing ride, see Kim Chung Shik, Directors of KCIA, vol. 1 (Dong-Á Ilbo, 1992), in Korean.

  Kim Il Sung: Separating fact from fiction about Kim’s early life is a formidable task. I have relied primarily on the most authoritative biography in the West, Dae-Sook Suh’s Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader (Columbia University Press, 1988). For Kim’s Christian background, see Yong-ho Ch’oe, “Christian Background in the Early Life of Kim Il-Song,” Asian Survey (October 1986). For Kim’s own account, see Kim Il Sung, With the Century (Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1992), 1:105–107. Kim in Soviet uniform, Suh, Kim Il Sung, 60.

  The Stalin quote on “young country, young leader” comes from US expert John Merrill, who heard it from a Russian with extensive experience in Pyongyang. Medvedev on Kim as a “normal person” is from Vadim Medvedev, Collapse (International Relations, 1994), in Russian. For Kim’s mansions and isolation from the people, see the memoir of Hans Maretzki (former East German ambassador to North Korea), Kimism in North Korea (Anita Tykve Verlag, 1991), in German. The 1984 train procedure was told to me by a Soviet official who took part.

  Special health arrangements for Kim in Germany, former East German diplomat, interview, June 10, 1994. The Rakhmanin quote is from Rakhmanin interview, April 8, 1994. The Talleyrand quote is from Roald Seveliev (of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Moscow), interview, April 8, 1994. On the early history of juche, see Michael Robinson, “National Identity and the Thought of Sin Ch’aeho: Sadaejuui and Chuche in History and Politics,” Journal of Korean Studies (1984).

  The Kim quote on “special emphasis” is from KIS Works, 27:19–20. Han Park on juche is from his book North Korea: Ideology, Politics, Economy (Prentice Hall, 1996), 10. On the thirty-four thousand monuments, see
Maretzki, Kimism in North Korea. The “cult of personality” quote is from Rakhmanin interview, April 8, 1994. The Suh quote is from Suh, Kim Il Sung, 314–315. South Korean visitor quotes, interview, November 22, 1994.

  Kim on the “situation at my fingertips,”KIS Works, 31:87–88. Kim to Solarz, transcript of Kim Il Sung-Solarz conversation, from the Jimmy Carter Library. On the ouster of high officials for new ideas, “Number One Taboo in Pyongyang: Challenging Kim’s Authority,” Vantage Point (Seoul) (May 1995). Kim’s words “said forever,” former communist diplomat, interview, June 10, 1994. On Kim’s statue, Suh, Kim Il Sung, 316. Kim description from Harrison Salisbury, “North Korean Leader Bids U.S. Leave the South as Step to Peace,”NYT, May 31, 1972.

  Conversations with the South: For the Kim-Lee meeting, see the transcript published in Monthly Joong-ang (March 1989), in Korean. Chong Hong Jin, who was present with Lee, told me in an interview (May 27, 1993) that it is essentially accurate. A North Korean version can be found in KIS Works, 26:134ff Additional documents on the inter-Korean meetings in 1972 are in “New Evidence on Inter-Korean Relations, 1971–1972,” North Korea International Documentation Project (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), September 2009. The story of twenty-one-year-old Poco Underhill is from his father in a telephone interview, August 26, 1996. Ambassador Lee’s presentation to the GDR, from conversation of Hermann Axen with Lee Chang Su (July 31, 1972), SED Archives. Kim Seong Jin’s quotes on Park are from Kim interview, May 24, 1993.

  CHAPTER 2: THE END OF THE BEGINNING

  On the Red Cross exchange, the Chung quote is from Chung Hee Kyung interview, July 19, 1993. “Bringing all the tall buildings”: This is one of the most oft-repeated anecdotes about the visit of the North Korean Red Cross delegation to Seoul and has been attributed to several different South Korean hosts. The Yun speech at the opening ceremony is from “Public ‘Disappointed’ in Propaganda” (September 14, 1972), 14; and National Unification Board, ROK, A White Paper on South-North Dialogue in Korea (Seoul, 1982), 119. On the South Korean decision to televise the opening ceremony, Kim Seong Jin interview, November 15, 1992. On intelligence management of South Korean protest, Chung Hee Kyung interview, July 19, 1993.