The Roots of Koreas Deep Division - Essay Example

1The Roots of Korea's Deep Division The Korean peninsula, with a history of unification dating back several centuries, has only recently come under the rule of two deeply divided factions. Until the Japanese Imperialism that began at the beginning of the 20th century, Korea was a country that was unified by tradition, language, and ethnicity. Its borders mirrored the homogeneous population and the Koreans benefited from centuries of orderly rule. Though Korea had a complex and bureaucratic system of land ownership, education, and ascension to power, their system rooted in Confucianism provided local guidance and well defined rules of authority. The imperial occupation of Korea by Japan from 1905-1945 sowed the seeds of future division and provided an incubator for rival factions to flourish and energize. After Japan was defeated and Korea liberated in 1945, Soviet-American agreements exploited the divisions that had sprung up during the previous decades. Fueled by old resentments, nationalistic movements, and cold war politics, the Soviet-American actions drove a wedge between North and South Korea, precipitated the Korean War, and erected a lasting wall dividing a country that 50 years earlier had been united. The seeds of division began to be sowed with the arrival of Japanese influence in the Korean peninsula. The 1876 treaty of Ganghwa between Japan and Korea was negotiated to open up trade between the two nations. However, the technically disadvantaged and militarily weaker Korea succumbed to a treaty that greatly favored the Japanese. It limited China's relatively innocuous influence, which setup Korea as a target for future imperialism. Russia, with imperialistic intentions, attempted to exert power over Korea during the 1890s. Japan and Russia, the biggest influences in Korea during this period, could not reach an agreement over the division of the spheres of influence. After negotiations broke down in 1904, Japan successfully defeated the Russians by initiating an attack on Russian ships harbored at Port Arthur (Cumings, 141). The agreement, negotiated by President Theodore Roosevelt, was little more than a U.S. trade off with Japan in which the U.S. got the Philippines and Japan was rewarded with Korea. This would be the beginning of 40 years of imperial rule by Japan and sweeping social and political changes. After 1905 Japan enjoyed a great latitude of control over Korea. They had been successful in defeating the Chinese and the Russians and had the silent approval of both the Americans and the British (Cumings, 142). This control began to reshape Korea and in doing so began to splinter the society. The beginnings of communism in Korea had their roots in the 1920s as rifts between the left and right began to manifest. Woodrow Wilson's assurances of self-determination had not been realized in Korea. On March 1, 1919, an uprising against the Japanese, demanding independence, resulted in a months long violent revolt. The suppression of the rebellion by Japanese authority left citizens divided with many turning to communist organizations for support. The division was split along left-right lines and mirrored the policies of Wilson and Lenin. The new policy of "gradualism" had resulted in a greater freedom of speech and encouraged the formation of several nationalistic, communist, and socialist groups. Occasionally these groups would be encouraged by the Japanese as a method to, "corral, co-opt, or simply moderate independence activist on left and right" (Cumings, 156). By the end of the 1920s, the communists were the main group leading the call for independence. Communism appealed to many Koreans as Dae-sook Suh writes, "The haggard appearance of the communists suffering from torture, their stern and disciplined attitude toward the common enemy of all Koreans, had a far reaching effect on the people" (qtd. in Cumings, 158). The geographical proximity of China favored the communists in the north and the resistance groups that this created would later become the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). In fact, according to Cumings, "The resistance to the Japanese is the main legitimating doctrine of the DPRK: the North Koreans trace the origin of the Army, the leadership, and their ideology back to this founding movement" (Cumings, 160). Japanese imperialism had succeeded in laying the foundation for the deeper division that was to come in the future. Though Japan initially had a policy of self-determination for Korea's commerce, laws passed in 1910 diminished the opportunity for Korean firms while promoting Japanese ownership. This came during the period when Japanese interests already owned 70% of the total (Cumings, 162). The 1920s and 1930s saw great growth in the Korean economy, technological advance, and finance reform. During this same time, the Japanese vastly improved the transportation system in Korea by building roads and expanding the rail system. These improvements allowed Korea to come out of the depression and continue to industrialize, at the expense of concentrating wealth. Japan's capital continued to flow into Korea and by 1940 major corporations found, as Cunings says, "a capitalist's paradise" (Cumings, 168). However, there were rumblings in paradise as leftists groups and communists organizations continued to clamor for independence as Korea faced another problem that would widen the fissure in Korean society; Mobilization. The industrialization of Korea and its subsequent concentration of land ownership demanded a labor force in the cities to man the factories. Many people left the country to move to the centers of manufacturing. Many of the nationalists and communists fighting for independence had also relocated or been exiled. The people were further displaced as the Japanese conscripted workers against their will, to work the factories that were building Japan's war machine. According to Cumings, in 1941 there were more than 770,000 Koreans living and working in Japan and by the end of the war Koreans accounted for one-third of Japan's industrial workforce (Cumings, 177). These workers would return home after the war to an atmosphere of resentment and mistrust. The attitudes of those that had moved and those that had stayed further caused divisions in Korean society. The fissures that existed in Korea after the war were long and deep. Divisions between left and right, communism and capitalism, nationalists and Japanese collaborators, and the disappointment of those that expected immediate independence with Japan's defeat, were a heavy burden to a nation trying to piece itself back together after 40 years of colonial rule. At this point, Korea may have been able to heal its wounds, find some common ground and embark on a program of unified independence. However, Soviet and American designs had already sabotaged any hope the Korean's may have had for independence and were unknowingly being setup for even greater division. Preliminary plans to turn Korea into an American-Soviet trusteeship had fallen through. In the days after the atomic bombs had been dropped, but before Japan surrendered, America was planning out the future of Korea. Russia had entered the war in the Pacific and John J. McCloy, of the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC), anticipated Soviet tensions over the peninsula. He ordered Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel to find a division line that would separate Russian and American interests. They were keen on keeping Seoul in the southern portion, and under U.S. control, and arbitrarily chose the 38th parallel. The U.S. still had some hope of forming a governing commission to administer a trusteeship. William Langdon, State Department adviser to occupation commander General John R. Hodge, even advised in a memo that he encouraged the Soviets to participate, "but if Russian participation is not forthcoming, plan should be carried out for Korea south of 38th parallel" (Cumings, 196). With the Russians occupying the northern provinces and the US forces in the south, they went about forming governments that would be sympathetic to their respective ideology. The North was primarily revolutionaries and communists led by the Kim Il Sung, an anti-Japanese revolutionary. By 1946 they were able to form a cohesive political party and were able to man a small army. The South, with Seoul, had the seat of government but was heavily staffed by bureaucratic positions that were generally perceived as Japanese collaborators and mistrusted by the public. Late in 1945, Dr. Syngman Rhee returned to Korea after living in the U.S. during the period of Japanese imperialism. A staunch anti-Communist, many U.S. officials favored Rhee to form the new government. Occupation forces and Rhee made plans for a separate administration of South Korea utilizing the bureaucracy left behind by the Japanese. Rhee was able to overcome objections to his policies, most notably a lack of land reform, and became head of the new ROK government officially formed in 1948. Rhee had ambitions of driving the communists from the North and disable the newly formed Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Pyongyang. The line that Rusk and Bonesteele had casually drawn in a hasty meeting 3 years before had now been indelibly etched in history. Rhee set about to destroy his political opponents and crush any indication of a leftist rebellion in anticipation of overpowering the North and gaining control of the unified Korea. By 1949, Rhee had imprisoned 30,000 of his political foes, had another estimated 70,000 housed in "Guidance Camps", and by December 1949 he was rounding up as many as 1,000 suspected communists per day (Cumings, 223). This brutal approach to maintain power was a calculated sweep to eliminate resistance in the South for Rhee's planned invasion of the North. At this same time, thirteen members of the National Assembly were arrested under an ill-defined law that made it illegal to join an organization that had the purpose of "disturbing the tranquillity of the nation" (Cumings, 216-217). The thirteen men's crime was that they had expressed opinions to the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) that were critical of Rhee. According to the indictment, they called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and opposed the "invasion of North Korea by South Korean forces" (Cumings, 217). The trial judge would not allow witnesses for the defense and the evidence consisted of confessions that were gained through torture (217). An embassy official said, "Security forces were ruthlessly stamping out the Communist party organization and guerrilla resistance, using whatever methods were considered necessary" (Cumings, 223). As 1948 came to a close, the Soviets withdrew their troops from North Korea. This had little if any impact on the North as the number of Soviet advisors was estimated to be no more than 200 at any time (226). North Korea never did become a Soviet puppet regime, though they did continue to exert their influence over them. Russia was never able to realize its ambitions of getting access to a warm water port on the peninsula, and that may have been the reason for their diminished interest in the area. Kim, however, was a skilled politician and was able to manipulate both the Russians and the Chinese to fill his needs during this period. The next year would see North Korean troops who had fought in the Chinese civil war reenter the Korean People's Army (KPA) and by 1948 had establish a powerful army under his leadership. Kim was able to establish closer ties with China and looked to them for economic and military assistance. Kim was hoping for a reunited Korea, just as Rhee was in the South. With Rhee on one side, and Kim on the other, the two megalomaniacs were bent on ruling over a unified Korea at any cost. On Kim's side were 100,000 seasoned veterans who had seen combat alongside the Chinese. They were highly motivated by ideology and well equipped. Rhee likewise had 100,00 troops that were equipped with American aircraft and American firepower. Yet, Washington had grave misgivings about the looming possibility of a war instigated by Rhee. They had instructed Rhee to not provoke the North. According to Cumings, "Rhee got a clear message from Washington that he would get American support only if South Korea were attacked without provocation (italics mine)" (Cumings, 254). During this period, U.S. intelligence sources were reporting that an attack by the North against the South was imminent. Who started the war, and who took the first offensive action is still a matter of historical debate. The world may never know. What is certain is that if the U.S. had not supported the South, the North would have won an easy victory and Korea would have been reunited under a communist regime. Though both Kim and Rhee professed their desire to have a reunified Korea, their own power was more important to them than the fate of the country. The war decimated the North, destroying almost all sense of civilization as aircraft pounded the cities with bombs. When the war ended on July 27, 1953, the division between North and South had been permanently cauterized onto the landscape of Korea. There was no going back, no forgiveness, and no reunification. The years of Japanese colonialism had changed the Korean people. What was once a homogenized culture with little interaction with the rest of the world had been transformed. It had become a breeding ground for discontent and a staging area for future rebellion. While the majority of Koreans hoped for reunification and independence, the arrogant forces of world powers worked to conspire against them. History has shown that there can be little doubt that the U.S. was instrumental in designing and maintaining the division. The presence of the Soviets was rather inconsequential, as they seemed to have little interest in the area. Yet, the fear of Soviet domination of the North, and the insistence on turning Korea into a showdown over capitalism and communism ultimately turned Korea into a divided nation. The fruit was ripe after 40 years of Japanese rule, but it was the U.S. that eventually picked the forbidden apple. Bibliography Cumings, Bruce. Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1997. 1-525. Read More