ABSTRACT
During the 1950s and 1960s the ideological battlelines observed by the two Koreas in their rivalry for international recognition were clearcut, precluding initiatives by South Korea to seek relations with China or the Soviet Union or by North Korea to seek relations with the United States. The ROK had stringent anticommunist laws forbidding its citizens to have any intercourse with Communist states. Since the announcement of its willingness to establish relations with Communist countries, South Korea has shown a keen interest in making contacts with the Soviet Union. Trade was another form of contact with the Soviet Union eagerly sought by the South Koreans, once they decided to open their door to nonhostile Communist countries. The Soviets refused direct trade, which would have required negotiations with South Korea by Soviet officials, but a small indirect trade gradually developed. Some South Korean exports reached the Soviet Union via intermediaries in Western Europe.
