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South Korea China and the Soviet Union
Chun continued Park's policy of improving relations with
China and the Soviet Union and attached considerable importance
to these two countries, long the allies of North Korea. Beijing
and Moscow were thought to have much influence in charting the
future of the Korean Peninsula and were thus a part of
Nordpolitik
(see
Relations with the Soviet Union;
Relations with China
, ch. 4).
Seoul's official contact with Beijing was facilitated by the
landing of a hijacked Chinese civilian airliner in May 1983.
China sent a delegation of thirty-three officials to Seoul to
negotiate the return of the airliner, marking the beginning of
frequent exchanges of personnel. For example, in March 1984, a
South Korean tennis team visited Kunming for a Davis Cup match
with a Chinese team. In April 1984, a thirty-four-member Chinese
basketball team arrived in Seoul to participate in the Eighth
Asian Junior Basketball Championships. Some Chinese officials
reportedly paid quiet visits to South Korea to inspect its
industries, and South Korean officials visited China to attend
various international conferences. Since China and South Korea
began indirect trade in 1975, the volume has steadily increased
(see Foreign Trade Policy
, ch. 3).
The Soviet Union's unofficial relationship with South Korea
began in 1973, when it permitted South Koreans to attend an
international conference held in the Soviet Union. In October
1982, a Soviet official attended an international conference in
South Korea on the preservation of cultural relics. The uproar
following the Korean Air (KAL) 007 incident in September 1983,
when the Soviet air force shot down the KAL passenger airplane,
brought about a hiatus in contacts, but the unofficial
relationship resumed in 1988.
Data as of June 1990
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