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A Study of US Policy on the Recognition of the Government of the Republic of Korea: Centered on the US Recognition Policy during the Period of the Military Occupation in Korea

Kim, Yung Ho 1

1성신여자대학교

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ABSTRACT

After the protectorate treaty was signed by Japan forcibly with Korean Imperial in 1905, the United States withdrew the American legation from the capital, Hanyang. It resulted in the severance of US-Korean diplomatic relations. And it also meant that the US did not recognize Korea as an independent sovereign entity. The independent movement of the 1st of March in 1919 was a watershed event because it resulted in the establishment of the Korean Provisional Government. The Provisional Government objected to the restoration of the Chousun dynasty and declared the establishment of a Republic system based on the principle of popular sovereignty in Korean peninsular. The establishment of the Provisional Government meant that there emerged a Korean national political entity with the ability to pursue the diplomatic recognition of Korea in the international society. The Provisional Government made great diplomatic efforts to achieve diplomatic recognition of Korea from the United States, Great Britain, France at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 which held after the end of the First World War. But these diplomatic efforts failed. Since the Peace Conference, the diplomatic efforts of the Provisional Government concentrated on the United States because the leaders of the Provisional Government believed that the United States was very sympathetic to the independence movement after President Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation of the principle of self-determination. The American policy of state and government recognition began to change with the development of international environment and according to its foreign policies. Specifically, the US recognition policy of Korean Government incrementally changed from non-recognition to de facto recognition and finally de jure recognition. After the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule, the American military government in Korea did not recognize any political groups in Korea and declared itself as the sole sovereign entity and assumed the responsibility even for the properties reverted to the Japanese colonial authority. This situation was unprecedented in the history of international law. The American policy of diplomatic non-recognition of Korea went against the hope of the Korean people who wanted an immediate restoration of sovereignty and diplomatic recognition. The policies of the US on diplomatic recognition on Korea during the wartime and post-World War II periods were closely related to its general policies on diplomatic recognition. This article is designed to explore the US policies on diplomatic recognition of Korea during wartime and after the foundation of the Republic of Korea. It begins by analyzing the development of American diplomatic recognition policies after its foundation. Next, the article analyzes US recognition policies of the Korean Provisional Government from the period of the establishment of the provisional government to the period of Japanese colonial rule. This article will also explain the reason why the American military government in Korea declared itself a sovereign entity without diplomatic recognition of the Korean Provisional Government. This article will also research the process of US recognition policy of the Republic of Korea which proceeded from de facto recognition to de jure recognition after the free elections in South Korea under the supervision of the United Nations in May 1948. This article will conclude by the impact of US recognition policy of the Republic of Korea with the help of the United Nations.

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