ABSTRACT
The Republic of Korea has established formal ties with Mongolia and has entered discussions with Vietnam regarding South Korean investment. This chapter examines Moscow's evolving policy toward North and South Korea in the 1990s. It deals with a review of the Kremlin's traditional orientation toward and strong support for North Korea, in the context of the broader Soviet foreign policy approach of the pre-Gorbachev era. The chapter looks at Moscow's reassessment of its long-standing policy toward South Korea, which had been characterized by outright hostility and a refusal to accord any legitimacy to the government in the South. For four decades following World War II, Soviet policy toward the Korean Peninsula was driven not by considerations peculiar to the Korean situation, but by Moscow's broader global concerns. The 1988 Seoul Olympics provided an opportunity for increased contact between the Soviet Union and South Korea without Moscow's having to announce publicly an improvement in relations, and the Soviets took full advantage.
