The Roh Tae-woo Government Considered 'U.S. Troop Withdrawal' to Establish Diplomatic Relations with the Soviet Union... Revealing 30 Years of South Korean Diplomacy Secrets

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] It has been revealed that the Roh Tae-woo administration in 1989 even considered the withdrawal of U.S. troops during the process of establishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. The 1990 South Korea-Soviet Union summit, which was pushed forward amid North Korea's opposition, was also referred to by the code name "Taebaeksan."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly released 2,090 diplomatic documents (equivalent to 330,000 pages) along with original text summaries on the 29th. These documents contain details about the Roh Tae-woo administration's northern diplomacy, the progress of the South Korea-Soviet Union summit, the July 7 Declaration, and matters related to UN membership.

It was revealed that during the process of establishing diplomatic relations between South Korea and the Soviet Union at that time, the option of U.S. troop withdrawal was even considered. In a meeting on April 27, 1989, between Hong Soon-young, Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Vladilin, Deputy Editor of the Far East Affairs Institute, the issue of "whether U.S. troops would withdraw upon South Korea-Soviet Union diplomatic relations" was discussed. Our side expressed that "if South Korea-Soviet Union diplomatic relations, mutual recognition among the four powers, and international guarantees are secured, the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea would be possible."

The Soviet side stated that "despite approaching South Korea-Soviet Union relations, there is criticism from conservative forces within the Soviet Union due to lack of concrete benefits," and also mentioned that "if North Korea invades the South, it would be an act of suicide."

The diplomatic documents also captured signs that North Korea showed discomfort with the normalization of South Korea-Soviet Union relations at the time. According to Miguel Steklov, a senior advisor to the Soviet Federation who visited South Korea in January 1989 and spoke during a meeting with KOTRA, Kim Il-sung, Chairman of the Workers' Party of North Korea, had a serious disagreement with the Soviet Foreign Minister over the Soviet Union's policy toward South Korea and threatened by mentioning "the complete withdrawal of all official delegations except the embassy in Moscow."

The Roh Tae-woo administration, which established diplomatic relations with Hungary in 1989, pushed forward the 1990 South Korea-Soviet Union summit while maintaining strict security in consideration of North Korea. The matters related to the South Korea-Soviet Union summit were referred to by the code name "Taebaeksan," and utmost security was maintained until the official external announcement on May 31. North Korea strongly opposed the summit after June 4, but South Korea and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations on September 30 of the same year.

The recently released list of diplomatic documents and the diplomatic historical materials summary book will be distributed to major research institutions and libraries and can be accessed through the website of the Diplomatic Archives.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.