Formal Friendship, Real Suspicions: Diplomatic Relations between Mexico and South Korea, 1962-1987

This article deals with the initiation and development of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Republic of Korea. Both countries started relations in 1962, but in a rather idiosyncratic way. While South Korea immediately opened an embassy and appointed a resident ambassador, Mexico made a del...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: José Luis León-Manríquez
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:México
Institución:Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
Repositorio:Redalyc-UAM
OAI Identifier:oai:redalyc.org:433747496002
Acceso en línea:https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=433747496002
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Relaciones Internacionales
rok
dprk
South Korea
North Korea
equidistance
Descripción
Sumario:This article deals with the initiation and development of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Republic of Korea. Both countries started relations in 1962, but in a rather idiosyncratic way. While South Korea immediately opened an embassy and appointed a resident ambassador, Mexico made a deliberate effort to keep bilateral contacts to a bare minimum. Thus, Mexico only opened its embassy in Seoul in 1978 and posted a resident ambassador until 1987. The text addresses the explanation of this asymmetric relation, positing as main hypothesis that, given the anti-imperialist lineages of its revolution, Mexico sought to establish a distance from the international positions of the United States. This position did not entail, however, a preference for the dprk. The situation would change over time. The successive détentes between the great powers in the 1970s and 1980s, the tensions between Mexico and North Korea due to Pyongyang’s support of a Mexican guerrilla group, and the increased social, cultural and economic links between the two countries were the main factors for overcoming such distrust.