Bağımlılığı Avantaja Çevirmek: Güney Kore’nin Vietnam Savaşı’na Katılımı ve ABD-Kore İttifakının İnşası

Abstract

Soğuk Savaş’ın iki kutupluluğu altında, sömürge dönemi sonrası kurulan rejimlerin iç siyasi buhranları, küresel ittifak mimarisini derinden sarsan asimetrik dinamikler üretmiştir. Bunu en çarpıcı örneklerinden birisi, Güney Kore’nin Vietnam Savaşı’na asker gönderme kararıdır. Geleneksel tarih yazımı, ABD Başkanı Johnson’ın “Daha Fazla Bayrak" programı ekseninde şekillenen 1964-1965 Washington-Seul müzakerelerini doğrusal bir askeri-ekonomik alışveriş olarak okumaktadır. Gizliliği kaldırılan diplomatik arşiv evrakına dayanan bu makale, Park Chung Hee yönetimini cepheye sürükleyen asıl amilin mali girdiler değil, aniden patlak veren bir iç meşruiyet krizi olduğu savını işlemektedir. Japonya ile ilişkilerin normalleşmesine muhalif öğrenci hareketleri, güçlü bir ana muhalefet ve Amerikan askerlerinin Kore’den çekilme ihtimali, Park rejimini derin bir beka korkusuna sevk etmiştir. Bu şerait içinde Seul, Washington’un talep dahi etmediği iki tümeni gönüllü olarak Vietnam’a konuşlandırmak suretiyle iç politikadaki sorunları bir dış politika hamlesi ile çözmek yoluna gitmiştir. Kore’nin Vietnam’a asker göndermesi, Soğuk Savaş literatüründeki hegemonya kabullerini dışa bağımlı ve zayıf aktörlerin yapısal kırgınlıklarına rağmen değil, tam da bu zayıflıkları birer manivela olarak kullanarak süper güçlerle yürüttükleri pazarlıkları manipüle edebildiklerini göstermiştir. Böylelikle, Güney Kore dışarıya bağımlılığını asimetrik bir strateji uygulamak suretiyle iç siyasette önemli bir koz olarak kullanabilmiştir.

Keywords

• Kore Cumhuriyeti
• Vietnam Savaşı
• Park Chung Hee
• ABD-Kore İttifakı

Leveraging Dependency: South Korea’s Participation in the Vietnam War and the Making of the US-Korea Alliance

Abstract

To understand the origins of the South Korean intervention in Vietnam, it is necessary to understand how the internal vulnerabilities of post-colonial regimes actively shaped the global architecture of the Cold War. While traditional historiography views the 1964-1965 Washington-Seoul negotiations over Lyndon B. Johnson’s “More Flags” initiative as a simple transactional exchange, a closer examination reveals a more complex dynamic. At its core, the Park Chung Hee administration was driven not by external economic calculation, but by an acute crisis of domestic political legitimacy. Beset by fierce student demonstrations against normalization of relations with Japan, a defiant parliamentary opposition, and the haunting specter of American abandonment, Park recognized that his regime’s survival hung in the balance. By volunteering two full combat divisions—a massive deployment Washington had never explicitly south—Seoul skillfully neutralized the American rationale for troop reductions on the peninsula, extracted a crucial public endorsement from the Johnson administration to silence its critics, and expanded the ROK military apparatus at American expense. Utilizing newly available diplomatic records, this study demonstrates that visible economic concessions of the final settlement were the structural byproducts of this strategy, rather than primary catalyst. Ultimately, the Korean case illuminates a broader, systemic phenomenon with a superpower not in spite of their structural weakness, but precisely because of it—converting external dependency into vital domestic political capital.

Keywords

• Republic of Korea
• Vietnam War
• Park Chung Hee
• US-ROK Alliance
• more flags initiative

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