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After the armistice agreement that ceased fire at the Korean War in 1953, the Republic of Korea and the U.S. signed the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty to ensure mutual defense in the case of a military emergency situation on the Korean Peninsula. The official title of the treaty was the “Mutual Defense Treaty between the Republic of Korea and the United States of America.” It was signed by the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pyun Yeong-tae, and the U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, in Washington, D.C. on October 1, 1953. The instruments of ratification were exchanged on November 17, 1954, after gaining consent from the Korean National Assembly and the U.S. Senate, and Korean President Rhee Syngman and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower finally ratified the treaty. The photo displayed on the front cover of the document features the Korean Minister and the U.S. Secretary signing the treaty in Washington, D.C.
The treaty officially took effect in November 1954, and it consists of a preamble, a body with six articles, and an annex of the protocol of exchange, including the understanding of the U.S. concerning Article III. The main purposes of the treaty were to prevent the reinvasion of the communists due to their misjudgment and to get confirmation of U.S. involvement in the case of external armed attacks against the Republic of Korea. Under this treaty, the U.S. is able to immediately intervene in the case of armed conflicts on the Korean Peninsula, regardless of the decisions of the United Nations. Since the scope of this unilateral treaty is limited to the Pacific area, Korea is unable to be involved in conflicts that may occur within the territory of the U.S. Moreover, the U.S. is under treaty obligations only when Korea comes under external armed attack and has no obligations if Korea initiated an armed attack.
This document is the full text of the treaty issued by the Ministry of Information in 1954 as the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty took effect officially. The original copy of the treaty signed by the two representatives is preserved in the archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. |
