James G's many short pieces

Korean Reunification, 1993

Korea was reunified come January 1st, 1993. Across the DMZ, South Korean military forces moved northwards. They weren’t opposed. Information had been provided on where obstacles and mines were located to halt the passage of ground forces though there was a substantial airlift over the DMZ as well. Throughout their passage, there were North Korean military personnel on-hand to assist with the crossing and who guided them towards the inner confines of their country. The South Koreans entered North Korea as friends, brothers-in-arms of those in North Korean service. There was no fighting at all.

Pyongyang was soon reached. Columns of tanks along with flights of helicopters reached the city which was North Korea’s capital. Once more, there was no fighting. North Korean soldiers were generally confined to barracks under higher orders. The few which were out of their garrisons provided assistance to this movement. Wonsan, a major port on the east coast, likewise saw the arrival of a naval task force. Shipping channels where the North Koreans were able to confirm were free of mines came into use for South Korean forces as they reached there. Airlifts were made into North Korean airfields throughout the day by transport aircraft. All across North Korea, South Korean military forces arrived. There was no opposition to their takeover where they quickly brought the country under control. In the north, along the Yalu River with the Chinese frontier, South Korean soldiers arriving by air noted the presence of the People’s Liberation Army but over on their side of the river. Where North Korea and the new Russian Federation shared a border in the extreme northeast, the South Koreans were fast to reach there too. They secured the frontier crossings over which there had been the recent departure of the Group of Forces Korea. The Soviet Army, representing a country now disestablished, had gone home and with their departure, the collapse of North Korea was assured.


It had been back in 1956 when the ‘modern’ North Korea was forged. The eight year rule of Kim Il-sung had come to an end when he was deposed by the Soviet Faction of North Korean communists. His Guerrilla Faction had seemingly won out before in fights with them and the Chinese & Domestic Factions too but events in Moscow following Khrushchev’s denunciation of the deceased Stalin, saw North Korea take a different turn. Kim was out. Pak Chang-ok took power. Chinese troops inside the nation, there since the ceasefire with the United Nations brought the end to active fighting in the Korean War, assisted in the takeover. Pak might have been Moscow’s man though at the time he was aided by Beijing in a purge which eliminated Kim’s supporters.

The Chinese left North Korea two years later. It would be a decision which Beijing would later regret as the Sino-Soviet split became greater and Pak took North Korea fully into the orbit of Moscow. Pak’s death in 1963 followed a period of instability where the pressures of old factionism threatened to rise once more. China sought to gain influence in North Korea. Moscow found a new strongman though and supported his establishment of rule with the entry into North Korea of Soviet forces. The commitment was small and during their near three decade presence inside the country, the Group of Forces Korea would never ‘man the ramparts’ of the DMZ. Their primary mission was never to deter an American–South Korean threat but to instead keep the Chinese out. Chinese and Soviet border clashes during 1969 saw war fears come to North Korea. It was thought likely at that time that North Korea would be a springboard for an attack made into China. That conflict never came though.

North Korea meanwhile became a fully-fledged Soviet client state in a similar manner to those in Eastern Europe. There was some domestic political independence yet nothing real was ever done without the ultimate approval of Moscow. Pak was followed by three consecutive Korean Communist Party leaders who never stepped out of line. Relations with South Korea became cordial over time. The DMZ was a shared border between them with crossings made for trade and occasional family reunions. It was similar to that of the Iron Curtain through the middle of Divided Germany. Divided Korea was on the frontlines of the Cold War yet North Korean actions were never independent.

The Revolutions of 1989 didn’t at first trouble North Korea. Even events in Beijing had no immediate impact inside North Korea. When the Soviet Union came apart, that was when the trouble really started. In Pyongyang, the party establishment panicked. They feared a people power revolution or a Chinese invasion. The Korean People’s Army likewise shared such concerns but they didn’t trust the politicians to deal with them. Once Gorbachev brought an end to the Soviet Union in late 1991, the military in North Korea deposed the communists. They established military rule. It was never meant to be permanent though. From the outset, they never intended to hold onto power forever. The aim was reunification with South Korea. The Group of Forces Korea went home and the generals worked with Seoul. This is what they wanted: an end to North Korean independence. 1992 was a time of readiness for what came in the fast approaching New Year. The generals who took power gave it up… that doesn’t happen often elsewhere but it was seen in North Korea.


When taking over like they did, the South Koreans – the Americans provided assistance but no boots on the ground – secured North Korea from outside invasion. It was China that they feared. North Korea’s generals had deposed but not killed off the communists. Paranoia in Seoul ran that those former communists would ‘invite’ the Chinese in. That was not going to happen but South Korea took precautions in the manner in which it rapidly took control.

Korea was reunified. The financial, political and social costs of reunification weren’t cheap at all.