1975년 베트남전 종전과 북한정부의 대응: 베트남자료를 중심으로

Abstract

The end of the Vietnam War and the unification of Vietnam created a certain impact on both North and South Korea. For South Korea, the collapse of Saigon was considered as the historical tragedy of an ally in Southeast Asia. The Vietnam issue, therefore, was under considerable concern in South Korea. Meanwhile, for North Korea, Vietnam’s reunification was considered as an encouragement from North Vietnam towards North Korea to its unification-through-forces strategy. The meaning of the reunification of Vietnam did not stop here. Since the end of the 1960s, South Korea stopped sending troops to South Vietnam and started to withdraw its troops from the country in the 1970s. The relation between South Vietnam and South Korea began to deteriorate. The North Korean government looked at the Vietnam case and saw no capability for it to achieve unification in the way of Vietnam. It means that, in reality, North Korea abandoned the provocative unification policy towards South Korea. It was because North Korea admitted the different political situation between Korean peninsula and Vietnam. In addition, it was also due to the different unification forces, will and capability between North Korea and North Vietnam. Apart from that, China also played an important role in the unification of both Vietnam and Korea. China in the middle of 1950s advocated the two Koreas and two Vietnam policies in the long-run. Different from North Vietnam with its strong unification will despite external obstruction, North Korea at the moment was heavily depended on China. Thus, without Chinese support, the possibility of unification through forces was quite low. Although Vietnam was unified, this did not increase the unity among North Korea, North Vietnam and China. Vietnam War end had some impact on the unification policy of North Korea, yet it was not unification through forces but a more flexible and diverse policy. Such kind of flexible and diverse policy taken by North Korea was reflected through its request to the US government to withdraw from Korean peninsula and a proposal for peace agreement. However, such policy developed nearly no result. The ineffective policy towards unification that North Korea took reflects its weak unification will. North Korean leaders indeed nurtured a status quo policy instead of unification. North Korea moved from the peaceful status quo policy to a tensed status quo policy. The reason for such kind of policy was to strengthen the great leadership institution. North Korea in the middle of 1970s recognized Kim Jongil as the successor. The political situation in North Korea at the moment was around the process of expanding Kim Ilsung and his successor’s institution. In this situation, North Korean leaders took advantage of the Vietnam War conclusion to mobilize the whole country. North Korean Government propagandized that the country was threatened by the US and South Korea. And under the tag of war preparation, it mobilized the whole country. Moreover, North Korean leaders turned the victory of North Vietnam to revolutionary opportunity and consolidate “one-ideology” institution. As the results, with economic and political achievements, Kim Jongil stepped on political stage and the great leadership institution achieved its base to be completed later on.