Word: koreas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...does North Korea fit into all of this? Not well at all, contrary to what many Administration officials would have us believe. In fact, trying to fit the Korean question into the superpower equation was always difficult and is now nearly impossible. North Korea has always attempted to remain as autonomous as possible; and although circumstances have often dictated that it follow the policies of China and or the USSR, it has maintainted a relatively large measure of independence, unlike most of Eastern Europe...
Several factors combine to make Korea--and East Asia generally--at once more complex and more potentially dangerous than Germany. First and foremost, the importance of East Asia to the United States and the world has grown dramatically in the last few years. In 1977 the value of U.S. trade with Western Pacific for the first time exceeded the value of our trade with Western Europe. Korea ranks behind only Japan and Taiwan as a regional U.S. trading partner. Indeed, the GNP growth rates of these nations have been consistently higher than the world average. Between...
...second reason Korea has been attracting additional attention is the new Asian military balance between the superpowers. Growing Soviet naval and air forces pose new threats throughout the region. Since 1970 the Soviet Pacific Fleet has increased its total tonnage from one million to 1.6 million, while the US Seventh Fleet's tonnage has declined from one million to 600,000. In addition, access to formerly US naval facilities at Cam Ranh Bay and Danang. Vietnam, give the Soviet Union a vastly increased ability to project power along Asia's vital links to Mideast oil. Furthermore. SS-20 missiles...
...THIS be so, when the Communist superpowers created North Korea's government, nurtured it through the war, and support it to this day? The answer throws valuable light on the entire question of East/West division, and shows why it is impossible to view the world as red on one side and red-white-and-blue on the other. The Communits revolutions in Russia and China were achieved by remarkably well organized, tiny minorities. These violent revolutionaries used the legitimate grievances of oppressed peoples to gain power, which they promptly consolidated and turned against the same people to maintain their power...
...Koreas provide the best world example that it doesn't have to be this way, and that wise diplomacy now can correct the wrongs of four decades. Before 1945, Korea was an undisputed unit. But under the two systems of government progress has been vastly different. Per capita income is roughly 1.5 times larger in the South, and GNP is three times as great. GNP growth rate is twice as large for the South, and the North spends as much as 230 percent of its GNP for the military--vastly more than the South. With only half the population, North...