Editing North Korea–South Korea relations (section)

==Cold War==

Competition between North and South Korea became key to decision-making on both sides. For example, the construction of the [[Pyongyang Metro]] spurred the construction of one in Seoul.<ref>{{cite book| title = Kim Il-song's North Korea | last = Hunter | first = Helen-Louise | year = 1999 | publisher = Praeger | location = Westport, Connecticut | isbn = 0-275-96296-2 |page=189}}</ref> In the 1980s, the South Korean government built a 98m tall flagpole in its village of [[Daeseong-dong]] in the DMZ. In response, North Korea built a 160m tall flagpole in its nearby village of [[Kijŏng-dong]].<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43806930|title=North and South Korea: The petty side of diplomacy|first=Yvette|last=Tan|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=25 April 2018|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702144641/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43806930|archive-date=2 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Tensions escalated in the late 1960s with a series of low-level armed clashes known as the [[Korean DMZ Conflict]]. During this time North and South Korea conducted covert raids on each other in a series of retaliatory strikes, which included assassination attempts on the South and North leaders.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/15/world/south-korean-movie-unlocks-door-on-a-once-secret-past.html|title=South Korean Movie Unlocks Door on a Once-Secret Past|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=15 February 2004|last1=Onishi|first1=Norimitsu}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/02/116_80936.html |title=S. Korea raided North with captured agents in 1967 |work=[[The Korea Times]]|author=Lee Tae-hoon |date=7 February 2011 |access-date=12 May 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001195904/http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/02/116_80936.html |archive-date=1 October 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve12/d286 |title=Minutes of Washington Special Actions Group Meeting, Washington, August 25, 1976, 10:30 a.m. |date=25 August 1976 |access-date=12 May 2012 |publisher=[[Office of the Historian]], U.S. Department of State |quote=Clements: I like it. It doesn't have an overt character. I have been told that there have been 200 other such operations and that none of these have surfaced. Kissinger: It is different for us with the War Powers Act. I don't remember any such operations. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925121535/http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve12/d286 |archive-date=25 September 2012 }}</ref> On 21 January 1968, North Koreans commandos attacked the South Korean [[Blue House Raid|Blue House]]. On 11 December 1969, [[Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking|a South Korean airliner was hijacked]].

During preparations for [[1972 Nixon visit to China|US President Nixon's visit to China in 1972]], South Korean President Park Chung Hee initiated covert contact with the North's Kim Il Sung.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book | title = Korea| last = Bluth | first = Christoph | year = 2008| publisher = Polity Press| location = Cambridge| isbn = 978-07456-3357-2 |page=48}}</ref> In August 1971, the first [[Red Cross]] talks between North and South Korea were held.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite book |author=김영호 |script-title=ko:사실로 본 한국 근현대사 |edition=2nd |publisher=황금알 |location=Seoul |year=2011}}<!--. Print.--></ref> Many of the participants were really intelligence or party officials.<ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | page = 12 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref> In May 1972, [[Lee Hu-rak]], the director of the [[National Intelligence Service (South Korea)|Korean Central Intelligence Agency]] (KCIA), secretly met with Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang. Kim apologized for the Blue House Raid, denying he had approved it.<ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | pages = 18–19| isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref> In return, North Korea's deputy premier [[Pak Song-chol|Pak Song Chol]] made a secret visit to Seoul.<ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | page = 19 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref> On 4 July 1972, the North-South Joint Statement was issued. The statement announced the Three Principles of Reunification: first, reunification must be solved independently without interference from or reliance on foreign powers; second, reunification must be realized in a peaceful way without use of armed forces against each other; finally, reunification transcend the differences of ideologies and institutions to promote the unification of Korea as one ethnic group.<ref name="autogenerated1"/><ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | pages = 19–20 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref> It also established the first "hotline" between the two sides.<ref>{{cite book| title = Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey | url = https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi | url-access = registration | last = Robinson | first = Michael E | year = 2007 | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | location = Honolulu | isbn = 978-0-8248-3174-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/koreastwentieth00robi/page/179 179]}}</ref>

North Korea suspended talks in 1973 after the kidnapping of South Korean opposition leader [[Kim Dae-jung]] by the KCIA.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | page = 35 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref> Talks restarted, however, and between 1973 and 1975 there were 10 meetings of the North-South Coordinating Committee at [[Panmunjom]].<ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | page = 36 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref>

In the late 1970s, US President [[Jimmy Carter]] hoped to achieve peace in Korea. However, his plans were derailed because of the unpopularity of his proposed withdrawal of troops.<ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | pages = 83–86 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref>

In 1983, a North Korean proposal for three-way talks with the United States and South Korea coincided with the [[Rangoon bombing|Rangoon assassination attempt against the South Korean President]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Korea| last = Bluth | first = Christoph | year = 2008| publisher = Polity Press| location = Cambridge| isbn = 978-07456-3357-2 |page=59}}</ref> This contradictory behavior has never been explained.<ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | page = 113 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref>

In September 1984, North Korea's Red Cross sent emergency supplies to the South after severe floods.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Talks resumed, resulting in the first reunion of separated families in 1985, as well as a series of cultural exchanges.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Choe 2014"/> Goodwill dissipated with the staging of the US-South Korean military exercise, [[Team Spirit]], in 1986.<ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | pages = 118–19 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref>

[[File:Korean Air HL7406 Boeing 707-3B5C at Nagoya Airport, October 1987.jpg|thumb|The aircraft involved in the bombing of [[Korean Air Flight 858]], HL7406, seen one month before the destruction]]
[[File:Unification flag of Korea (pre 2006).svg|thumb|[[Korean Unification Flag]]]]
When Seoul was chosen to host the [[1988 Summer Olympics]], North Korea tried to arrange a boycott by its Communist allies or a joint hosting of the Games.<ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | pages = 142–43 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref> This failed, and the bombing of [[Korean Air Flight 858]] in 1987 was seen as North Korea's revenge.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | url = https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo | url-access = limited | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 0-415-23749-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo/page/n175 165]}}</ref> However, at the same time, amid a global thawing of the Cold War, the newly elected South Korean President [[Roh Tae-woo]] launched a diplomatic initiative known as ''[[Nordpolitik]]''. This proposed the interim development of a "Korean Community", which was similar to a North Korean proposal for a confederation.<ref>{{cite book | title = Korea| last = Bluth | first = Christoph | year = 2008| publisher = Polity Press| location = Cambridge| isbn = 978-07456-3357-2 |pages=48–49}}</ref> From 4 to 7 September 1990, high-level talks were held in Seoul, at the same time that the North was protesting about the Soviet Union normalizing relations with the South. These talks led in 1991 to the Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, Exchanges and Cooperation and the [[Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Korea| last = Bluth | first = Christoph | year = 2008| publisher = Polity Press| location = Cambridge| isbn = 978-07456-3357-2 |pages=49, 66–67}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last1= Oberdorfer| first1=Don| last2=Carlin| first2=Robert | title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History | publisher = Basic Books| year = 2014 | pages = 165–69, 173–75 | isbn = 9780465031238}}</ref> This coincided with the admission of both North and South Korea into the United Nations.<ref name="BipolarOrdersp160">{{cite book |author= Hyung Gu Lynn |date= 2007 |title= Bipolar Orders: The Two Koreas since 1989 |url= https://archive.org/details/bipolarorderstwo00lynn |url-access= limited |publisher= Zed Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/bipolarorderstwo00lynn/page/n174 160]}}</ref> Meanwhile, on 25 March 1991, a unified Korean team first used the [[Korean Unification Flag]] at the World Table Tennis Competition in Japan, and on 6 May 1991, a unified team competed at the World Youth Football Competition in [[Portugal]].

There were limits to the thaw in relations, however. In 1989, [[Lim Su-kyung]], a South Korean student activist who participated in the [[13th World Festival of Youth and Students|World Youth Festival]] in Pyongyang, was jailed on her return.<ref name="BipolarOrdersp160"/>