So yes, Korea was liberated from Japan, but then denied self-determination and self-government, their land split in half randomly, and in the south all but the most right wing of Korean leaders were totally side-lined. As an American, today feels like shame.
Also, any of the history books in my pinned list of reading recommendations that cover 1945 will include more details on how Korea (the peninsula) was screwed over by Cold War machinations (bullsh*t) of the "great powers"
Thanks for saying this. It needs to be said - but many still prefer to obscure what happened under USAMGIK, its failures, and how it suppressed those who didn’t fall in line behind its primary mission of making the South an anti-communist bulwark.
Nothing like a communist bogeyman to excuse trampling on other people's rights. (or killing them -- Jeju, Gwangju)
Exactly, and don’t forget the Daegu October Uprising of 1946, the Nat’l Guidance League, the fabricated cases tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal, 연좌제, the People's Revolutionary Party Incidents, the civilian massacres perpetrated by ROK marines in Vietnam… oh, nevermind, the list is far too long…
Exactly. It's so fuc*ed up. On Threads someone mentioned that it was necessary to not let Russia take it all, but if Korea had been united, how many lives would not have ended in the Korean War? What ifs work like that...