Without North Korea as an enemy, the Pentagon could not justify continued military and economic control of South Korea. When the new president of South Korea, Kim Dae Jung, came to the United State in June 1998 to win what the New York Times reported as a more flexible stance [in dealing with North Korea], he made the same argument the Clinton administration has made about China: that the best way [to change North Korea] is not to isolate it and punish it with sanctions but, to build economic and diplomatic ties that draw it out into international playing field.
Kim's proposal, however, was met with a cool reception not only from the Pentagon but from Congress.
The Defense Monitor, published by the Center for Defense Information, which is headed by retired military and naval officers, has long held a view similar to Kim. In January 1994 it concluded:
The best system is to offer to withdraw U.S military forces from South Korea in exchange for North Korean abandonment of any nuclear weapons development and agreement to permit unimpeded international inspection to verify the agreement... Establishing diplomatic and economic ties would also encourage a reduction on Cold War hostility.
If it wanted to, the United States could make peace, establish diplomatic relations, and permit hands-on news reporting at any time. Little known as the fact that the United States violated the armistice agreement of July 27, 1953 that ended the Korean War. The armistice provides that
within three months after the Agreement is signed and effective, a political conference of a higher level of both sides be held by representatives appointed respectively to settle through negotiations the questions of the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea, the peaceful settlement of the Korean question.
The argument, signed by U.S. Army General Mark W. Clark for the United Nations and the United States, is still in force, since the United States, has never been willing to end the armistice with a peace treaty. As recently as April 28,1994, North Korea called on the United States to "replace the Korean Armistice with a peace treaty" instead of continuing the military confrontation. The armistice also states that the respective military commanders shall
case introduction into Korea of reinforcing combat aircraft, armored vehicles, weapons and ammunition; provided however that combat aircraft, armored vehicles, weapons and ammunition which are destroyed, damaged, worn out or used up during the period of the armistice may be replaced on the basis piece for piece of the same effectiveness and the same type.
The United States clearly violated that agreement with introduction of Patriot missiles into South Korea by presidential order on March 21,1994, and quite likely North Korea to develop missiles of its own. North Korea also claims there have been many other violations, including the introduction of nuclear weapons years ago, the introduction of a squadron of Apache helicopters, and the "U.S. naval forces which have clustered" around North Korea.
An imposed state of hostility toward North Korea is in fact evident in a series of military and economic treaties between the United States and South Korea. The Mutual Defense Treaty of October 1, 1953, was designed to provide the United States with an indefinite base for military operations in the north Pacific and to perpetuate a state of war between North Korea and U.S.-occupied South Korea.
Signed immediately after the Korean War, the treaty states that "an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the Parties in territories now under their respective control" Article Ⅳ continues: "The Republic of [South] Korea grants and the United States of America accepts, the right to dispose United States land, air and sea forces on and about the territory of the Republic of Korea as determined by mutual agreement." And the countries' fate is sealed in Article Ⅳ: "This treaty shall remain in force indefinitely." There must be a one-year notice of any termination.
The Mutual Defense Treaty was followed by the Agreed Minutes of November 17, 1954, which specifically obligate South Korea to place its "forces under the operational control of the United Nations Command." This is a euphemism for U.S. control, since there are no other U.N. forces in Korea's own army, navy, air force, and reserves.
Another of the Agreed Nineties supplements U.S. military control. "Measures for an Effective Economic Program" sets the value of the Korean Hwan at 180 to the dollar and states that any imports "not furnished by the United States...will be procured wherever in non-communist countries goods of the required quality can be obtained at the best price." This provision assures no trade with North Korea, China, or Cuba. The setting of the rate of 180 Hwan to a dollar in effect got Korea-statoned U.S. armed forces a substantial subsidy in buying Korean goods, including coal and fertilizer.
On December 13, 1991, North and South Korea signed a nonaggression agreement in which both stated they "shall not interfered in the internal affairs of the other" and "shall refrain from all acts aimed at destroying and overthrowing the other side." They agreed to "discontinue confrontations and competition" and to cooperate in "joint development of resource."
A month later, North Korea signed an agreement permitting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect its nuclear facilities. Between May 1992 and January 26, 1993, there were six such inspections.
In spite of this thaw in North-South relations, however, the Pentagon conducted Team Spirit 1993, one of a series of Team Spirit war exercises that have been used over the years to steadily harass North Korea. Team Spirit 1993 lasted more than a month and involved B-1 bombers and warships capable of nuclear strikes as well as more than 200,000 soldiers who practiced an invasion.
As a result of this obvious combined U.S. and South Korean history, North Korea announced its decision to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and rejected IAEA inspections of its military sites. According to the November 20,1993, People's Korea - a Tokyo based journal edited by Koreans living Japan and the chief source of official news from and unofficial news from and about North Korea - North Korea asked to inspect U.S. nuclear weapons and bases in South Korea, saying:
If we submissively accept an unjust inspection by the IAEA it would be to legitimize the espionage of the United States, a belligerent party vis-a-vis the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and lead to the beginning of the full exposure of all our military installations.
