In the late 1950s, the United States embarked on its longest war at the time, fifteen years of attempting to overthrow the communist government of North Vietnam. After the defeat of the Japanese in World War II, the United States joined France in refusing to allow elections for all of Vietnam, but instead supported the partition of Vietnam into North and South Vietnam. It wasn't until 1995, forty years after the United States was defeated by its "enemy," that U.S. President Bill Clinton established diplomatic relations with Socialist Republic of Vietnam. "Pete" Peterson was the first U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam. He was a United States Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War and spent over six years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese army after his plane was shot down. In January 2007, Congress approved Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) for Vietnam.
North Korea
In the same region, the U.S. never diplomatically recognized the government of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) after World War II but instead set up its own compliant government in South Korea. At the start of the Cold War , North Korea only had diplomatic recognition by other Communist countries. Over the following decades, it established relations with developing countries and joined the Non-Aligned Movement. By 1976, North Korea was recognized by 93 countries and by August 2016 it was recognized by 164 countries. The United Kingdom established diplomatic relations with the DPRK in 2000 and Canada, Germany and New Zealand recognized North Korea in 2001. The United States, France, the United States, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Japan are the only large states that do not have diplomatic relations North Korea.
During the Korean War, the strategy of the United States to defeat North Korea was to obliterate North Korea in a scorched earth policy that leveled virtually every town and city. The armistice that brought the suspension of conflict was never followed up with a peace treaty, instead leaving the North Koreans to face a huge U.S. military presence in South Korea as the U.S. assisted South Korea in building an incredible economic powerhouse. While South Korea blossomed economically, North Korea had to divert its human and economic resources into defending its sovereign country from continuing threats of attack, invasion and regime change from the United States.
Under the new Trump administration, dialogue with the North Koreans has not been ruled out, however, as with the Bush and Obama administrations, the starting point for the U.S. for talks is still the North Korean government suspending/ending its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Those demands are non-starters for the North Korean government while there is no peace treaty with the U.S. and the U.S. continues its annual regime change military maneuvers with the South Korean military the latest of which was called "Decapitation."
While under the most stringent international sanctions, North Koreans have developed nuclear weapons, ballistic missile and have placed satellites into orbit. For the safety and security of the planet, one hopes that peace treaty negotiations with the current Number One enemy of the United States- North Korea- will begin so that the North Koreans will not feel threatened by the specter of regime change and can devote their ingenuity and creative power to the betterment of the lives of the people of North Korea.
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