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South Korea Relations with the United States
South Korea continued to depend on United States military
assistance. In spite of initial United States hesitation about
supporting Park in 1961, the two countries maintained close
economic, military, and diplomatic ties. South Korea dispatched
combat troops to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in 1965
to augment United States forces there, and President Lyndon B.
Johnson paid a personal visit to Seoul in October 1966 to show
his appreciation.
Friction began to develop in the Washington-Seoul
relationship after the United States withdrew one of its two
divisions from South Korea in 1971 and intensified after Park
instituted rigorous authoritarian measures under his 1972
constitution. This tension led to an accelerated effort by the
Park government to gain support in the United States Congress.
The methods used by Seoul's lobbyists ultimately resulted in the
embarrassing "Koreagate" affair of 1977, involving former
Ambassador Kim Dong-jo and rice dealer Park Tong Sun.
Investigations by the Ethics Committee and by the Subcommittee on
International Organizations of the Committee on International
Relations
of the United States House of Representatives received much press
coverage and weakened United States support for South Korea.
During his presidential election campaign in 1976, Jimmy
Carter pledged, if elected, to withdraw all combat troops from
South Korea. His victory aggravated United States-South Korean
relations considerably
(see Relations with The United States
, ch.
4). In March 1977, the United States decided to withdraw its
ground combat forces over a four-to-five year period. Some 3,600
troops subsequently were withdrawn, but further reductions were
suspended in 1979. In the meantime, President Carter and the
Congress continued to press for the improvement of the human
rights climate in South Korea. Relations between the two
countries were at a low point in 1979, just before Park's
assassination. In early 1981, President Ronald Reagan's
administration announced that further withdrawals were not being
considered.
Data as of June 1990
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