U.S. Foreign Policy Towards North & South Korea by Marisa Carattini

When did diplomatic relations between the U.S. North Korea and South Korea?

komoroskib — 2015-02-13 15:52:36 UTC

When Japan lost control of Korea at the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union split the peninsula into two territories pending promised national elections, which never took place. Instead, after Moscow and Washington failed to agree on a way forward, the United Nations in 1948 declared the Republic of Korea.
In 1954, the United States and South Korea signed the ROK/U.S. Mutual Security Agreement, in which they agreed to defend each other in the event of outside aggression. In 1978, the two countries formed the Combined Forces Command, based in Seoul and with a U.S. general at the helm, to defend South Korea.

U.S. Foreign Policy towards North Korea

carattinim — 2015-02-13 15:55:41 UTC

While researching U.S. foreign policies we learned that

the U.S.'s relations between North and South Korea are

very different. The U.S. has a much more guarded and less

friendly policy with North Korea than it does with South Korea.

The first reason for this is that North Korea practices communism

as it's form of government. The country is under the dictatorship

of Kim Jong-un. This is extremely different from the government

form practiced in both South Korea and the U.S., has capitalism.

The second and main reason for the distrust between North

Korea and the U.S. is North Korea's use of nuclear missiles. The

U.S. has consistently pushed for the denuclearization of North

Korea, meaning that the U.S. wants North Korea to cease their

nuclear weapons program.

What Efforts Have Been Made to Improve the Relationship

Between the U.S. and North Korea:

In the past the U.S. has offered aid to North Korea during

times of starvation by providing food for people who lived in

poor conditions.

President Obama initially tried for a change in foreign policy

between North Korea and the U.S in 2009 but was refused.

Instead, the North

Koreans launched more nuclear missile testing, against the U.S.'s
wishes.

Many six-party talks took place directly between North

Korea and the U.S., however they did not have much
success in stabilizing the relationship between the
two nations.

The ¨Leap Day Agreement¨ was created by the Obama Admin.

to prevent North Korea from testing nuclear missiles. However, the

agreement failed less than three weeks later.

komoroskib — 2015-02-13 15:59:07 UTC

What political organizations are the U.S. and South Korea both a part of?

realbutom — 2015-02-13 16:00:31 UTC

They are both a part of The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This organization promotes policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world

In addition they are both members of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). They try and stop the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction worldwide
They are also both a part of Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) which helps prevent a nuclear terrorist attack

North Korean Flag

carattinim — 2015-02-14 16:57:16 UTC

The two blue stripes represent friendship and the red strip represents communism and patriotism. The white stands for purity and traditional Korean culture.

North Korean Propaganda Poster

carattinim — 2015-02-14 17:21:50 UTC

North Korean propaganda is designed to glorify North Korea and make it appear to be an amazing place to live.

South Korean Flag

carattinim — 2015-02-14 17:25:49 UTC

The white background is a traditional Korean color and the red and blue yin and yang symbol in the center represents balance. The four black trigrams in each corner represent fire, water, earth, wood, and metal.

Effect on Modern Korean Society

carattinim — 2015-02-14 17:29:57 UTC

The separation of North and South Korea resulted in two very different countries. South Korea is far more developed, and the people there live in conditions similar to those in the U.S.. Whereas in North Korea, starvation and poverty are normal. People living in North Korea are forbidden to leave their country, and do not realize how bad their living conditions truly are due to the overwhelming amount of propaganda distributed by the North Korean government. The two Koreas also have very different foreign policies towards the U.S.. North Korea has a much more hostile relationship with the U.S. than its southern counterpart because of differences in government, but more importantly conflicting interests involving North Korea's nuclear missile program. Although steps have been taken to mend this relationship, there is still a long way to go before there is friendship between the two countries. Fortunately, the U.S. has a more open relationship with South Korea, and both nations have agreed to defend one another in times of need. This is partially because South Korea has adopted a democratic system of government from the U.S., which helped rebuild after Japan's defeat in World War II.