ABSTRACT
The United States, recognizing the value of South Korea as a vital bulwark for its anti-communist struggles in the cold war era, embraced it as one of its closest client-states in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States no longer regarded South Korea as a mere instrument of its global cold war policy but rather valued it as an increasingly important and confident participant in regional economic and military affairs. The military decisions made by Nixon and Carter greatly distressed the South Koreans and severely strained the US-Republic of Korea alliance. In an attempt to encourage North Korea to adopt a peaceful stance toward South Korea and also to explore the possibility of improving its own relations with North Korea, the United States has held almost 30 low-level diplomatic talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Beijing since December 1988.
