A History of Korea (121 page)

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Authors: Jinwung Kim

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7
. On 4 September 1909, Japan signed an agreement with China stipulating that, in return for China’s permission to reconstruct the railroad line between Dandong and Shenyang, Japan relinquished Chos
ŏ
n’s claim to the Jiandao region of southeastern Manchuria.

8. THE PERIOD OF JAPANESE COLONIAL RULE

1
. Cumings,
Korea’s Place in the Sun,
152; Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
16.

2
. Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
20.

3
. Cumings,
Korea’s Place in the Sun,
150.

4
. Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
19.

5
. Ibid., 23.

6
. In September 1919, immediately after his accession to office, Saito was hit by a bomb launched by a Korean, Kang U-gyu, but he survived.

7
. Originally, in 1923, a group of Korean educational leaders sought Japanese approval of their plan to establish a private university. The Japanese rejected their request and, instead, established the Ky
ŏ
ngs
ŏ
ng Imperial University as a colonial institute in 1924.

8
. Grajdanzev,
Modern Korea,
75, 104.

9
. Government-General, Korea,
Annual Report on the Administration of Tyosen [Chosen], 1937–1938,
218.

10
. Lee,
A New History of Korea,
337–338. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the works of Russian, German, French, British, American, and Japanese authors, including John Bunyan’s
Pilgrim’s Progress,
translated in 1895, were read by the more educated Koreans, and Korean writers increasingly adopted Western ideas and literary forms.

11
. Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
27–28.

12
. Henderson,
Korea,
103.

13
. Suh,
The Korean Communist Movement, 1918–1948,
15.

14
. Lee,
Land Utilization and Rural Economy in Korea,
163.

15
. Lee,
A New History of Korea,
360; Han,
Tasi ch’ann
ŭ
n uri y
ŏ
ksa,
544.

16
. Han,
Tasi ch’ann
ŭ
n uri y
ŏ
ksa,
547.

17
. Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
38, 41.

18
. In 1905 Chu Si-gy
ŏ
ng presented a proposal to the government on the study of the Korean language and the compilation of a Korean dictionary. His efforts resulted in the establishment, in 1907, of a Korean-language research institute and a new system for the national script han’g
ŭ
l. Under this system, official documents and communications were no longer written exclusively with Chinese characters but also included han’g
ŭ
l. Korean-language spelling and usage were also standardized. Newspapers and books used the new writing system to spread knowledge of Western institutions more rapidly among the
general populace. Chu Si-gy
ŏ
ng also emphasized the importance of language and script as the foundation of Korea’s national spirit and culture. His works on Korean grammar and phonology, published in the years from 1908 to 1914, profoundly influenced scientific research on the Korean language.

19
. Lee,
Korea and East Asia,
164.

20
. Korean Culture and Information Service, “History Being Whitewashed Again and Again.”

21
. Ibid.

22
. U.S. Department of State,
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1943,
3:37 (hereafter,
FR
).

23
. Eden,
Memoirs,
438.

24
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943,
404.

25
. Ibid., 869.

26
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, 1944,
5:1224–1228.

27
. Ibid., 5:1239–1242.

28
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945,
360–361.

29
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, The Conference of Berlin,
2 vols., 1:311–313.

30
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945,
770.

31
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, 1945,
6:887–891.

32
. Matray,
The Reluctant Crusade,
37–43.

33
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, 1945,
6:1039.

34
. Rusk,
As I Saw It,
124.

35
. Schnabel,
Policy and Direction,
10–11.

36
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, 1945,
6:1039.

37
. Matray,
The Reluctant Crusade,
46–47.

9. LIBERATION, DIVISION, AND WAR

1
. My use of the term “leftist” refers to those on the political Left, including communists and socialists, both seeking radical social and economic change in revolutionary Korea. The term “rightist” refers to those with a conservative viewpoint who want to preserve the existing order.

2
. Han,
Han’guk ch
ŏ
ngdang sa,
25–35; Henderson,
Korea,
114–115.

3
. Cumings,
The Origins of the Korean War: Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes,
191.

4
. Ibid., 255–258.

5
. Merrill,
Korea,
59.

6
. Cumings,
The Origins of the Korean War: Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes,
250.

7
. Henderson,
Korea,
146.

8
. U.S. Department of State,
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947,
6:857–859 (hereafter,
FR
).

9
. U.S. Department of State,
Korea, 1945–1948,
70–71.

10
. Ibid., 13–14.

11
. U.S. Congress,
The United States and the Korean Problem,
18.

12
. Merrill,
Korea,
76.

13
. U.S. Congress,
The United States and the Korean Problem,
20.

14
. Merrill,
Korea,
79.

15
. Lee,
Korea and East Asia,
175.

16
. Henderson,
Korea,
138–139.

17
. Ibid., 139.

18
. Chos
ŏ
n
Ŭ
nhaeng,
Chos
ŏ
n ky
ŏ
ngje y
ŏ
nbo,
I-28; Nongnimbu,
Nongji kaehy
ŏ
k sa,
1:358–359.

19
. Lee,
Korea and East Asia,
177.

20
. Scalapino and Lee,
Communism in Korea,
315.

21
. Cumings,
The Origins of the Korean War: Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes
, 387–393.

22
. Simmons,
The Strained Alliance,
25.

23
. On 24 February 1946 Ch’oe Yong-g
ŏ
n was elected chairman of the Chos
ŏ
n Democratic Party. Cho Man-sik was reportedly killed by the retreating North Korean communists at a Pyongyang prison on 18 October 1950 during the Korean War.

24
. Merrill,
Korea,
63–64, 68–69, 98–100, 122–123, 131–132; Tucker,
Encyclopedia of the Korean War,
131–132.

25
. Tucker,
Encyclopedia of the Korean War,
994–995; Merrill,
Korea,
98–129; Cumings,
The Origins of the Korean War: The Roaring of the Cataract,
259–276.

26
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, 1948,
6:1305–1308.

27
. Merrill,
Korea,
130–165, 174; Tucker,
Encyclopedia of the Korean War,
93–94.

28
. Merrill,
Korea,
165–166.

29
. Tucker,
Encyclopedia of the Korean War,
8–9.

30
. Goncharov, Lewis, and Litai,
Uncertain Partners,
131–154.

31
. Weathersby, “Soviet Aims in Korea and the Origins of the Korean War,” 16; idem, “The Soviet Role in the Early Phase of the Korean War,” 442.

32
. Goncharov, Lewis, and Litai,
Uncertain Partners,
143–144.

33
. U.S. Department of State,
FR, 1950,
7:211.

34
. Tucker,
Encyclopedia of the Korean War,
654–656.

35
. Allegedly, on 26 July 1950, a strafing attack by U.S. aircraft killed upward of 100 among some 500 South civilian refugees at the Nog
ŭ
n-ni (village) railroad bridge, and, over the next few days, U.S. troops pinned down the remaining refugees under the bridge, fired on them, and killed some 200. The unfortunate accident of war took place in a desperate fighting situation, where U.S. commanders issued orders authorizing their poorly trained soldiers with little combat experience to fire on civilians as a self-defense against disguised North Korean troops. Ibid., 638.

Regarding the “Nog
ŭ
n-ni incident,” the United States has opposed the use of the term
haksal,
the Korean word for “massacre” or “manslaughter.” The U.S. opposition to the term was related to its conclusion that “Nog
ŭ
n-ni” was an accidental incident that occurred under the chaotic situation in the early stage of the Korean conflict. Americans preferred the term “killing” to “massacre.”

36
. Ibid., 707–711.

37
. In commemoration of the advance into North Korea, on 14 September 1956, the
ROK
government declared 1 October as Armed Forces Day.

38
. Kepley,
The Collapse of the Middle Way,
127.

10. THE PERIOD OF POSTWAR RECONSTRUCTION

1
. Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
84.

2
. Palais, “‘Democracy’ in South Korea,” 325.

3
. Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
102.

4
. Ibid., 103–104.

5
. Palais, “‘Democracy’ in South Korea,” 326.

6
. The Chang My
ŏ
n government dusted off a five-year economic plan, a concept that had been rejected three years earlier by Syngman Rhee as too “communist,” and set about reworking it. The economic plan was to start in the spring of 1961. As it was a long-term project, the government also launched an initiative called the National Construction Service (
NCS
) to meet the popular demand for jobs and food. Under the
NCS
, a program designed to counter the political and social unrest, people were to be given food in return for work on reforestation, flood control, small-scale irrigation and road construction projects instead of receiving food in the form of relief. The spirit of self-reliance and hard work that characterized the
NCS
was the basis of the future New Village Movement launched by the Park Chung-hee government.

7
. Palais, “‘Democracy’ in South Korea,” 332–337.

8
. Pak,
A Study of the Land Tenure System in Korea,
76–84.

9
. MacDonald,
The Koreans,
198.

10
. Breidenstein, “Capitalism in South Korea,” 235–236.

11
. Brandt, “Local Government and Rural Development,” 275.

12
. Some 10,000 protesters, mostly college students, took to the streets in the center of Seoul on 3 June 1964 to oppose normalizing relations with Japan.

13
. Matray,
East Asia and the United States,
266–267.

14
. Palais, “‘Democracy’ in South Korea,” 338.

15
. Swartout, “A History of Korean-American Relations,” 49–55.

16
. Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
94–96.

17
. MacDonald,
The Koreans,
98.

18
. Gills,
Korea versus Korea,
54–59.

19
. Ibid., 60–62.

20
. Nahm, “The United States and North Korea since 1945,” 106.

21
. Ibid., 102–104.

11. REVERSAL OF FORTUNES

1
. On 24 October 2007 the National Intelligence Service, the
KCIA
’s successor, through its Development Committee for Clarifying the Past, concluded that Park probably ordered or tacitly approved the kidnapping. The committee also made clear that the bombing of
KAL
858, which occurred on 29 November 1987, was indeed a terrorist attack masterminded by North Korea.
Korea Times,
25 October 2007 (Seoul).

2
.
Han’guk ilbo,
15 August 2008 (Seoul).

3
.
Tonga ilbo,
15 August 2008 (Seoul).

4
. Ibid.

5
.
Chos
ŏ
n ilbo
, 16 May 2011 (Seoul).

6
. According to a 2011 poll, while 38.3 percent of those polled thought that Park had had an affirmative impact on South Korea’s political demonstration, 56.1 percent rated his impact negatively. Ibid.

7
. Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
156.

8
.
Tonga ilbo
, 15 August 2008 (Seoul).

9
. Oberdorfer,
The Two Koreas,
36.

10
. Buzo,
The Making of Modern Korea,
135.

11
. Ibid., 136.

12
. The Fifth Five-Year Economic and Social Development Plan (1982–1986) sought to shift the emphasis from heavy and chemical industries to technology-intensive industries, such as precision machinery, electronics, and information. More attention was to be devoted to building high-tech products in greater demand on the world market. The Sixth Five-Year Economic and Social Development Plan (1987–1991) continued to stress the goals of the previous plan.

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