Year of 1973 in retrospect
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By Shin Hyun-gook
On Jan. 20, 2013, I was sitting in a hotel room in Manhattan, New York City, watching the television coverage of U.S. President Barack Obama’s inauguration for a second term. Proceeding the following day’s pompous ceremony at the Capitol, an event at the White House on Sunday was carried out in a somewhat low-key atmosphere as if reflecting the stark situation the United States of America is facing: unemployment along with other domestic, economic and social issues as well as waning American influence overseas and the need to redirect U.S. foreign policy.
Nonetheless, while watching the quiet event that day, I was reminiscent of my first ever trip out of Korea. Forty years ago, on Jan. 20, 1973, I left Gimpo International Airport, aboard an American flagship carrier, Northwest Airlines, for the United States. Having been recruited by the Voice of America as a foreign language broadcast specialist for the Korean Language Section, I was heading to Washington, D.C.
Arriving at the stop-over, Honolulu airport, I just learned that it was the day Mr. Richard M. Nixon was being sworn in for his second term as the 37th president of the United States. To this foreigner’s eye, the celebration was jubilant, and Americans seemed to be very proud of their country at that moment. Nixon, in the election for his second term, enjoyed a landslide victory thanks to the accomplishments of his foreign policies; the successful opening of a diplomatic relationship with Communist China in 1972 and also bringing in the East-West detente and the initiation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union in the same year.
Only three days after the inauguration, Nixon announced that the Paris Peace Accords had been signed, the beginning of the end of the grueling and costly U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. However, not long after, the United States and the rest of the world embraced tremendous hardship. Domestically, continuing revelations about the Watergate scandal and the disgraceful end of Nixon’s presidency left painful scars on Americans’ pride and its political history.
In 1973, Egypt and Syria, with the support of other Arab nations, launched a surprise attack on Israel on the Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur. The so-called 1973 Arab-Israeli War ended in only 20 days but due to the U.S. support of Israel the Arab members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. The Arab oil embargo in 1973 brought about the first “oil shock,” shrinking the global economy. Along with the stock market crash at this time the oil crisis was regarded as the first major event since the Great Depression to have a persistent economic effect worldwide.
Back then, the Republic of Korea was under the rule of President Park Chung-hee, who had successfully extended his dictatorial reign through the 1972 October Yushin Constitution. Korea at this time was assisting the U.S. war efforts in Vietnam. However, in 1973, Nixon continued U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam. During his first tenure in 1969, Nixon announced his Guam Doctrine, signaling the shift of the U.S. direction on international policies in
, especially aiming for the "
of the
." The Guam Doctrine was applied to the “
Foreign Policy of the United States
on South Korea,” and 20,000 of 61,000 American soldiers were evacuated from Korea until June 1971.
The Korean government was on high alert over U.S. policy on Korea. Preserving the U.S. military presence in Korea and the execution of the modernization programs of the Korean military forces were imminent tasks. In an attempt to gain favor and influence for Korean government objectives, some high ranking officials of the then Korean government resorted to illegal lobbying practices on U.S. congressmen, thereby stirring up an American political scandal, known as “Koreagate.”
For months and months, and years and years, press coverage about the U.S. Congressional hearings on Koreagate and the alleged involvement of Korea’s Unification Church in this scandal, along with dark political developments in Korea that restricted political freedom and scenes of clashes between police and opposition political activists were on the front pages of U.S. newspapers and on major television evening news programs every day. What a shame and a disgrace!
Now back to the future! The U.S. and Korea are still suffering economically under the grip of the world financial crisis. However, one should remember how the world was forty years ago! The future still looks unclear and unpromising but statistics show the economy is on the recovering track in the U.S. Korea is also carefully trotting down a track towards sustaining continued development.
The U.S., with its pivot to Asia policy declared by Obama, is committed to preserving peace in the region. China, with its new leadership under President Xi Jinping, is signaling a more responsible attitude dealing with economic and security issues. Japan under the new leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is becoming conciliatory in dealing with China on controversial island issues. Having been elected Korea’s first female president, Park Geun-hye has already made it clear that she is strongly committed to the preservation of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Recently, she advised a special envoy to China that she would like to cooperate closely with the neighboring country for the realization of a Northeast Asia Economic Community or East Asia Community.
The world has overcome even harder predicaments since 1973. This is the time for the leaders of China, Japan and Korea to sit together to discuss measures for further economic and security cooperation in Northeast Asia, transcending historical rivalry and hatred sentiments. The idea of a free trade pact, inching toward deeper regional integration should be explored, toward the eventual formation of the East Asia Community, as declared, only three years ago in Beijing in October 2009 by the heads of China, Japan, and Korea during their agreed regular summit meeting.
The leaders of the three nations should be reminded of a Chinese adage, “tan xiao shi da” ― seek small gains but incur big losses.
The writer is a chair professor of the Catholic University of Daegu. He previously headed the Foreign News Division of the Korea Overseas Information Service. His email address is
.