The Evolution of Military Strategy of the Republic of Korea Since 1950

In the 1950s, South Korea could not formulate a desirable military strategy due to North Korea's overwhelming military strength, the United States' massive commitment on South Korea, and the youngness of the Southern government's leadership and statecraft. In the 1960s, facing the Northern regime's egregious military provocations and taking advantage of the United States' fundamental focus on the Vietnam War, South Korea began to take an embryonic assertiveness in its military strategy. In the 1970s, affected by the Nixon Doctrine and its entailing implementations, South Korea had to opt for a self-reliant military strategy, as expressed in the Force Improvement Programs. In the 1980s, the growing strategic importance of Seoul compelled South Korea to choose an active defense-offense operational strategy. From the latter part of the 1990s, however, the murkiness of the Kim Dae Jung government's national strategy (the Sunshine Policy) toward North Korea confused and befuddled South Korea's military strategy, which, accordingly, fell into a state of disorientation.