Korea and the United States: A Century of Cooperation (review)

Book Reviews Korea and the United States: A Century of Cooperation. Edited by Youngnok Koo and Dae-Sook Suh. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1984. 395pp. Index. $37.00. To many Americans, even among those who try to keep abreast ofworld events— though scarcely to any educated Koreans—it was probably moTe than a mild surprise to learn in 1982 that the United States-Korean relationship was already a century old, for the general American awareness ofKorea is largely a product ofthe post-World War II era, with the Korean War its centerpiece, Korea and the United States, which seems intended less for the specialist than for the nonspecialist, is a timely reminder that there is more to the American-Korean tie than meets the eye. Not only is this relationship one of considerable age, it is also richly multidimensional and complex, encompassing strategic and military as well as political, economic, social, and cultural matters, and involving an intertwined play of interests , ideas, values, institutions, and personalities. While a commemorative volume of this kind, with its inevitable subtitle, A Century ofCooperation, will naturally appear to glide on the buoyant air ofcelebration , it is equally noteworthy that this book, far from skirting troublesome issues, candidly examines the misconceptions, irritants, divergent interests, and serious tensions that have run parallel to the theme ofcollaboration between the two countries . However, the essays included in this volume are, with one exception, either by Korean nationals or by Korean-Americans, and this feature lends an extreme asymmetry to the focus and structure of their discussions. A genuinely binational study would have had a wider appeal and influence. It is unclear whether this imbalance is itself a reflection of the asymmetric nature of the interest that America and Korea have in each other—less on the part of the former, more on the part of the latter—or whether contributions from American specialists (Bruce Cumings, Gregory Henderson, and John Merrill, for example) were not actively sought by the sponsors. Be that as it may, asymmetry with all its consequences is indeed the theme which unifies the contributions. Together the articles examine the reasons for this asymmetry, the impact it has had on both Korea and the United States, and the countervailing factors that may now slowly be emerging to rectify it. In the process, 90BOOK REVIEWS the articles throw much light not only on the evolution of the formal relationship between the two countries but also on its behavioral aspects. The book begins with a general historical survey of the relationship by Suh Dae-Sook. He covers largely familiar ground, starting with a description of the inauspicious encounters between America and Korea before 1882, resulting from the clash between the supremely confident, "manifest destiny"-inspired expansionist posture of the Americans and the uncompromising insistence of a policy of national seclusion by the Koreans. Suh then takes the reader through the post- 1 882 era of cordiality between the two countries; the early twentieth century American abandonment of Korea, under realpolitik considerations, to Japanese control; the mostly private, tenuous, and infertile ties of the 1905-1945 period of Japanese imperialism; and the post-World War II intensification of America's role in the peninsula in the context of confrontation between the new superpowers and the events and forces subsequently spawned by that confrontation. Hahm Pyong-Choon, the late scholar-diplomat, follows with a highly readable and astute analysis of Korean images of America since the mid-nineteenth century. As their knowledge about the West and America increased in the wake of the 1882 treaty between the two countries, Koreans rather easily and rapidly disabused themselves of the outlandish view of Westerners as "barbarians," and gradually began to hold America in high esteem-not only for its enormous economic and technological achievements, and its lofty social and political ideals, but also for its potential role as a benefactor and protector. The United States was seen as the only disinterested, benign foreign power involved in Korea. Despite the failure of the United States to deliver the expected protection from successive threats to Korean sovereignty, Korean faith in American support remained undiminished. Post- 1945 events in Korea, of course, led...