Roh Tae-Woo and “Nordpolitik”

Roh Tae-woo was president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993 and is generally regarded as the first democratically elected President of South Korea. One of Roh’s best-known policies was his “Nordpolitik” foreign policy strategy in which he worked to establish economic and diplomatic relations with the “Northern” (Communist) nations, including the communist nations of East Europe, the Soviet Union, and China. This policy boosted South Korea’s own position in the world order while North Korea, which failed to successfully make similar overtures to the US and Japan, became further isolated following the collapse of the Soviet bloc. The normalization of diplomatic relations with other Communist countries would go on to set the stage for Roh’s successor Kim Dae Jung and his “Sunshine Policy,” which emphasized cooperation over coercion.

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