Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-23T14:17:49.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - South Korea, Russia, and China: from adversaries to economic partners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2014

Uk Heo
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Terence Roehrig
Affiliation:
United States Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island
Get access

Summary

After Korea was divided into two in 1945, the Soviet Union was North Korea’s patron throughout the Cold War period. China also became North Korea’s close ally after a Chinese communist regime was established in 1949. When the Cold War ended, however, the relationship between South Korea and these two countries started changing, largely because South Korea’s economy rose to the twelfth largest in the world, making the ROK an attractive economic partner even at the expense of their ties with Pyongyang.

In 1990 Russia established normal relations with South Korea. Trade between the two countries increased annually and reached $22 billion in 2012. The political relationship has also improved. After normalization, South Korea provided $1.5 billion in loans to the Soviet Union in 1991 and later another $1.5 billion to Russia. As part of the loan repayment, Russia, the successor to the Soviet Union, provided weapons systems to South Korea. This arms transaction is unique because it was done between two former adversaries without commercial benefits or ideological solidarity, the typical motives of an arms transaction. This relationship was possible thanks to South Korea’s economic prosperity.

Type
Chapter
Information
South Korea's Rise
Economic Development, Power, and Foreign Relations
, pp. 67 - 87
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahn, Se Hyun, “Understanding Russian–South Korean Arms Trade: A Nontraditional Security Approach,” Armed Forces and Society 35:3 (April 2009): 421–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Samuel S., The Two Koreas and the Great Powers (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kihl, Young-whan, Korea and the World: Beyond the Cold War (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994), 84Google Scholar
Buszynski, Leszek, “Russia and the Asia-Pacific Region,” Pacific Affairs 65:4 (Winter 1992–93): 486–509CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savada, Andrea Matles and Shaw, William (eds.), South Korea: A Country Study (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office for the Library of Congress, 1990)CrossRef
Panov, Alexander, “Russian and South Korean Relationship,” paper presented at the 2012 Korean–Russian Jeju Peace Institute Forum on Russia’s Policy toward the Korean Peninsula
Republic of Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, An Outlook on Russia (Russia Kaehwang) (Seoul: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2010) (in Korean)Google Scholar
Joo, Seung-ho, “Russia and the Korean Peace Process,” in Kwak, Tae-hwan and Joo, Seung-ho (eds.), The Korean Peace Process and the Four Powers (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003)Google Scholar
Joo, Seung-ho, “Economic Relations with South Korea,” in Thornton, Judith and Ziegler, Charles E. (eds.), Russia’s Far East: A Region at Risk (Seattle and London: The National Bureau of Asian Research in association with University of Washington Press, 2002)Google Scholar
Fedorovsky, Alexander N., “Russian Policy and Interests in the Korean Peninsula,” in Chufrin, Gennady (ed.), Russia and Asia: The Emerging Security Agenda (Solna: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 1999)Google Scholar
Kwak, Tae-hwan and Joo, Seung-ho, “Security Relations between the ROK and Russia: The Military Dimension,” in Joo, Seung-ho and Kwak, Tae-hwan (eds.), Korea in the 21st Century (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2001)Google Scholar
Cha, Victor, “Strategic Culture and the Military Modernization of South Korea,” Armed Forces and Society 28:1 (Fall 2001): 99–127CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Austin, Greg, The Armed Forces of Russia in Asia (New York: I.B.Tauris, 2001), 114Google Scholar
Hyung-seok, Choi, “W120 Billion Per Year for Five Years,” Chosun Ilbo, February 10, 2010Google Scholar
Lee, Chae-jin and Park, Doo-bok, China and Korea: Dynamic Relations (Stanford, CA: Hoover Press, 1996)Google Scholar
Lee, Heeok, “China’s Policy toward (South) Korea: Objectives of and Obstacles to Strategic Partnership,” Korean Journal of Defense Analysis 22:3 (September 2010): 283–301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chung, Jae-ho, “South Korea-China Economic Relations: The Current Situation and its Implications,” Asian Survey 28:10 (October 1988): 1031–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shengqi, Zhou, “Sino-South Korean Trade Relations: From Boom to Recession,” EAI Background Brief, no. 508 (2010)Google Scholar
Chung, Jae-ho, Between Ally and Partner: Korea-China Relations and the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006), 29–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dollar, David, “South Korea-China Trade Relations: Problems and Prospects,” Asian Survey 29:12 (December 1989): 1167–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi, Xiaoxiong, “Ten Years of China-South Korea Relations and Beijing’s View on Korean Reunification,” Journal of East Asian Affairs 16:2 (Fall/Winter 2002): 315–51Google Scholar
Snyder, Scott, “China-Korea Relations: Establishing a Strategic Cooperative Partnership,” Comparative Connections 10:2 (2008): 109–18Google Scholar
Chan, Sarah and Kuo, Chun-Chien, “Trilateral Trade Relations among China, Japan, and South Korea: Challenges and Prospects of Regional Economic Integration,” East Asia 22:1 (Spring 2005): 33–50 (34)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Republic of Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2013 China Overview (Seoul: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2013)Google Scholar
Yoon, Hong-woo, “The 6th ROK-PRC FTA Negotiation Failed,” Kyonghyang Shinmoon, July 14, 2013Google Scholar
Jianping, Zhang, Analysis on the Issues of and Prospects for a China-Korea FTA, CNAEC Research Series 06–04 (Seoul: Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, 2006)Google Scholar
Heo, Heung-ho and Jung, Yun-se, “Korea and China’s Strategic Position for Korea-China FTA,” Korean Journal of Business History 24:4 (2009): 251–71Google Scholar
Roehrig, Terence, “History as a Strategic Weapon: The Korean and Chinese Struggle over Koguryo,” Journal of Asian and African Studies 45:1 (February 2010): 5–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gries, Peter Hays, “The Koguryo Controversy, National Identity, and Sino-Korean Relations Today,” East Asia 22:4 (Winter 2005): 3–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Song, Ki-ho, “China’s Attempt at ‘Stealing’ Parts of Ancient Korean History,” Review of Korean Studies 7:4 (2004): 93–122Google Scholar
Roehrig, Terence, “The ROK Navy and China’s Rise: Balancing Competing Priorities,” in McDevitt, Michael A. and Lea, Catherine (eds.), CNA Maritime Asia Project: Naval Developments in Asia (Alexandria, VA: Center for Naval Analysis, 2012), 61–78 (73–76)Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×