Russia-South Korea relations
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South Korea-Russia relations refers to the international relations between Russia and South Korea.
Immediately following Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea, the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States created the division of Korea into North and South states. Thereafter, since the two sides were separated by North Korea and opposing ideologies, there was little contact until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Since the 1990's there has been greater trade and cooperation between the two nations. The total trade volume between South Korea and Russia in 2003 was 4.2 billion US dollars. [1]
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[edit] Relations with the former Soviet Union
South Korea had been seeking to trade with the Soviet Union even before Gorbachev came to power. Gorbachev desired foreign capital and high technology, as well as Seoul's help in alleviating the Soviet economic crisis through direct investment, joint ventures, and trade. As early as May 1979, South Korea signed an agreement obtaining Finnish assistance in exporting to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.[2]
In the 1980s, South Korean President Roh Tae Woo's Nordpolitik and Mikhail Gorbachev's "New Thinking" were both attempts to reverse their nations' recent histories. Gorbachev had signaled Soviet interest in improving relations with all countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including South Korea, as explained in his July 1986 Vladivostok and August 1988 Krasnoyarsk speeches.[3]
The natural resources Seoul increasingly needed--oil, metals, timber, and fish--are abundant in the Soviet Far East. Trade with the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China would also alleviate South Korea's apprehension over the United States' increasing trade protectionism. South Korea's expanding trade with Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union initially was encouraged by the United States, although Washington later became increasingly concerned over possible high-technology transfers.[4]
Improved Seoul-Moscow relations were planned in three related stages: sports, trade, and political relations. The 1988 Seoul Olympics was a major catalyst. Moscow sent more than 6,000 Soviets to South Korea and Soviet tourist ships came to Busan and Incheon and Aeroflot planes landed in Seoul.[5]
Because of the lack of diplomatic relations, most South Korean-Soviet trade initially was indirect; Eastern Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore served as intermediaries. With an increasing volume of trade, Seoul and Moscow began trading directly, using facilities near Vladivostok and Busan. The Korean Trade Promotion Corporation (KOTRA) and the Soviet Chamber of Commerce and Industry exchanged a trade memorandum in 1988 pledging mutual assistance in establishing trade offices in 1989. Seoul's trade office in Moscow opened in July 1989; Moscow's trade office in Seoul opened in April 1989. Several major South Korean businesses including Daewoo, Sunkyong, and Lucky-Goldstar traded directly with the Soviet Union in 1990.[6]
South Korea's new-found wealth and technological prowess had been attracting the interest of a growing number of socialist nations. In initiating Nordpolitik, Roh's confidential foreign policy adviser was rumored to have visited Moscow to consult with Soviet policymakers. Kim Young Sam visited Moscow from June 2 to June 10, 1989, as the Kremlin announced that it would allow some 300,000 Soviet-Koreans who had been on the Soviet island of Sahkalin since the end of World War II to return permanently to South Korea. Moscow even arranged Kim's meeting with the North Korean ambassador to the Soviet Union.[7]
In June 1990, Roh held his first summit with President Gorbachev in San Francisco. [8]
[edit] Establishment of Russia-South Korea relations
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, South Korea and Russia established diplomatic ties 1991. Russian president Vladmir Putin visited Seoul in February 2001 [9], and South Korean president Roh Muhyeon visited Moscow in September 2004. [10]
South Korea and Russia are participants in the Six-party talks on the North Korea's nuclear proliferation issue.
[edit] Economic cooperation
South Korea and Russia are working together on construction of a bilateral industrial complex in the Nakhodka Free Economic Area in Russia's Far East and gas-fields development in Irkutsk. The two sides also agreed to cooperate on reconnecting a planned inter-Korean railroad with the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Russia has expressed interest in becoming a conduit for South Korean exports to Europe, which now go by ship, by linking the Korean railroad to the TSR.[11] [12]
Russia reportedly offered to repay its $1.7 billion debt to South Korea through joint investments in North Korea, such as the railroad project. [13]
[edit] Space program
South Korea is currently selecting its first astronaut, scheduled to board a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station in April 2008. South Korea plans the first domestic launch of a satellite in 2008, with Russian assistance. The aerospace institute is spending about 20 billion won on the astronaut project, including Russian fees. [14]
[edit] Koreans in Russia
- See Koryo-saram and Sakhalin Koreans
Koryo-saram is the name which ethnic Koreans in the Post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. Approximately 450,000 ethnic Koreans reside in the former USSR, primarily in the newly independent states of Central Asia. There are also large Korean communities in southern Russia (around Volgograd), the Caucasus, and southern Ukraine. These communities can be traced back to the Koreans who were living in the Russian Far East during the late 19th century.
There is also a separate ethnic Korean community on the island of Sakhalin, typically referred to as Sakhalin Koreans. Some may identify as Koryo-saram, but many do not. Unlike the communities on the Russian mainland, which consist mostly of immigrants from the late 1800s and early 1900s, the ancestors of the Sakhalin Koreans came as immigrants from Kyongsang and Jeolla provinces in the late 1930s and early 1940s, forced into service by the Japanese government to work in coal mines in order to fill labour shortages caused by World War II.[1]
