Modern Korean History1876-1953

History of the Korean Peninsula

Ancient History (pre-918 A.D.)

Koryo Dynasty (918-1392)

Choson Dynasty (1392-1910)

Hangul (script) Seoul (18BCE)

1876-1953

Arguably the most chaotic period in Korean history

– Forced open by imperialism and fought over by other powers– Lost her national sovereignty– Suffered a 36-year colonial rule– Witnessed the division of one ancient country into two modern nations– Survived a destructive civil war with international intervention

Maps

Enlightenment and Reform inthe 19th Century

Forces of “enlightenment” refers to small body of advocates of reform of the Chosŏn dynasty: saw value of “westernization” (e.g., Yu Kil-chun)

But largely overwhelmed by forces of tradition that despised foreign technology and ideas (e.g., Yi Hangno)

Forces for isolation ascendant under Taewŏn’gun (1864-1873), father of King Kojong

Treaty of Kanghwa 2/22/1876

Japanese version of Commodore’s Perry’s opening of Japan

Unequal treaty– Open 3 ports

– Extraterritoriality

– Residential rights

– Commercial privileges

Open Korea to Japanese ambitions

Enlightenment Efforts after Kanghwa

Enlightenment forces advocate modernization AND “self strengthening”– Li Hung-chang’s advice

1880s foreign relations 1882 Treaty with United States led to relations with other Western powers 1883 first Korean mission to U.S.

Conservatives and Reformers

Kojong and reformers make headway

Growth of anti-foreignism:opponents of “heterodoxy”

Plot of Taewŏn’gun to replace Kojong

Royal family torn between conservatives and reformers– Conservative Min clique

Progressives and Coup of 1884

Even reformers divided: gradualists of the “Eastern values, Western science” type

Others wanted greater changes: progressives, for whom model was Japan

December 4, 1884 banquet for Postal Administration Kim Ok-kyun and followers captured Kojong, killed several ministers and engineered a 14 point reform program– Assistance of Japanese

Chinese troops put down coup: Kim, 8 others escape to Japan

1884-1894 Japanese influence down, now contested Chinese influence ascendant: Yüan Shih-k’ai as

“Director-General Resident”– Remove reformists– Stifle nationalism– Limit foreign contacts

Even as China crumbling under foreign pressure, trying to hold on to influence in Korea– “Japan between Empires”

Russia and England clash over interests in Korea, China settled issue over Kŏmun-do

Korea no longer “arbiter of its own destiny”

Tonghak Uprising and the Sino-Japanese War, 1894-95

Example: Tonghak Uprising Background of maladministration, high taxes,

rural economic chaos, spiritual decay Growing hostility of peasantry towards domestic

and foreign exploitation Ch’oe Che-u(1824-1864) and founding of

Tonghak (“Eastern Learning”), preaching equality of men regardless of class– Religious AND social movement

Tonghak Uprising II

Execution of Ch’oe: followers want to clear name

April 1893 in Poun launch “crusade” against ills

By spring1894 a full-scale peasant uprising

under Chŏn Pong-jun to topple corrupt leaders and drive out Japanese

Defeat government troops, seize Chŏnju

Quelling the Tonghaks

Worried gov’t. calls for Chinese troops, Japanese also dispatch

Tonghaks quelled, but Japan attacks Chinese forces: Sino-Japanese War

Japanese victory results in Treaty of Shimonoseki– Korean “independence– Taiwan– Liaotung peninsula

Kabo Reforms, 1894-96

Japan “reforms” government– Appoint reformers, pro-Japanese people appointed

• Many studied in Japan and U.S.

– Hundreds of reform bills passed by Deliberative Assembly over 16 month period

– Massive social, political reform designed to totally reform nation

– Queen Min assassinated by Japanese in October 1895 Reforms unpopular with conservatives, others

because of Japanese backing

Incipient Nationalism: The Independence Club, 1896-98

Triple Intervention after Sino-Japanese War– Russian position in Korea increases, multi-power

struggle for advantage in Korea– Japan now considers firmer control

Philip Jaisohn forms the Independence Club to champion independence and reforms

Ran afoul of government, leaders jailed (Syngman Rhee) and Jaisohn deported to U.S.

Last real chance for Koreans to effect reform

Japanese Imperialism and the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05

Increasing tension between Japan and Russia over Manchuria and Korea

Japan attacks Russia, stuns everyone by defeating Western power

Victory led to Japanese decision to seize Korea

Theodore Roosevelt wins Nobel Prize for peace at Portsmouth

Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905

Korea Under Japanese Rule: 1910-1945

Japan still not totally committed to colonization: “protectorate” with Ito Hirobumi as Resident General

Valiant Korean struggle against Japanese forces Assassination of Ito in Harbin by An Chung-gŭn

leads to final seizure Japan forces Korean cabinet to sign document of

annexation 36 years of colonial rule result

Japanese Colonialism 1910-1919 military

control 1919 March First

Movement leads to change

1920-1937 “cultural rule”: co-opt Koreans – forced

industrialization

Japanese Occupation, 1937-1945

Forced mobilization– Slave labor

– Japanese language

– Shinto worship

– Comfort women This is the occupation

that Koreans remember today

Koreans Struggle for Liberation

Difficulties at home Korean Provisional

Government, Shanghai 1919

Syngman Rhee An Ch’ang-ho’s work

at home and abroad Guerrillas like Kim Il

Sung1931Kim Il Sung became a member of the Communist Party of Korea

Anti-Japanese Resistance and Japanese invasion of Manchuria

September, 1931 beginning of Japan’s war with China

Korean partisans Kim Il Sung

Kim Il Sung and his partisans are pressed into the 88th Special Independent Guerrilla Brigade of the Soviet Army.

The main task of this unit is

to gather military intelligence in Manchuria

February 16 1942 In

Siberia Kim Jong Suk, the second wife of Kim Il Sung, gives birth to their first son, Kim Jong Il. 

Aug. 6, 1945 - The first A-bomb is dropped on Hiroshima

August 8, 1945 - Stalin declares war on Japan.

Three Red Army groups, over one and half million men, 5,500 tanks and self-propelled guns, invade Manchuria and reach the Korean border in less than two weeks.

Aug. 9, 1945 - The second A-bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.

Aug. 10, 1945 - The Soviet troops land at Ung-gi and two days later at Chungjin and Hungnam. Japan offers to surrender

Aug. 15, 1945 - Japan surrenders

"Despite the best that has been done by everyone, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage,,. In order to avoid further bloodshed, perhaps, even the total extinction of human civilization, we shall have to endure the unendurable, to suffer the insufferable."

- Emperor Hirohito

Surrender of Japan, Tokyo Bay,

2 September 1945

Liberation, Disillusionment and Division: 1945-1950

Jubilation at liberation short-lived USSR and US accept Japanese surrender

– 38th parallel as temporary expedient soon becomes permanent

US and USSR to work towards “trusteeship” before Koreans “ready” for self-rule– Both occupations attract Koreans with similar

ideological bent: Korean nationalism already developed left-right split under Japanese

– Soviets encourage revolution, Americans provide bulwark for conservatives

9th of September Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Kim Il Sung was elected as its first premier

Both regard the other as illegitimate

ORIGINS OF THE KOREAN WAR

North Korean advantages:1. possess a larger army, it also

had many experienced veterans who had fought in China's Civil War.

2. manufactured some of its own weapons and possessed many Soviet made weapons.

3. support of the Chinese Military (and support of Communist China – People’s Republic of China (1949 onwards)

US in Asia The US was uncertain as to the

extent of its commitment in Asia It knew its umbrella definitely

covered Japan, Okinawa, and the Philippines, but it was unclear about Taiwan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia

Believing the US did not intend to protect South Korea, the USSR allowed the North Koreans to invade the south in 1951

Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s speech to

the National Press Club omitted South Korea

from the US “defensive perimeter”

June 25, 1950 North Korean

invasion of the ROK

July 27, 1953 armistice

Countries remained dividedHostility greater than everDestruction of the two nations enormousPerhaps 4 million people died

Important To Remember

The Korean War is not over

There is only an armistice, a “cessation of hostilities”

The war is a fundamental reason behind the current “North Korean Crisis”

In America it is “the Forgotten War”-BUT NOT IN NORTH KOREA

Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) encompasses 2 kilometers on either side of the 151 mile long Military Demarcation Line (MDL)

Panmunjeom is the official diplomatic headquarters at the

DMZ.

Korean Demilitarized Zone (or DMZ) most

heavily armed border in the world

South Korean Presidency Rhee Syngman (1948-1960)

Yun Boseon (1960-1962)

Maj. General Park Chunghee (196201979) May of 1961, a military coup

Choe Kyuha (1979-1980) Lt. General Chun Doowhan

(1980-1988) Roh Taewoo (1988-1993) Kim Youngsam (1993-1998) Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003) Roh Moo-hyun (2003- ? )

         

Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003)

2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the first winner of a Nobel to hail from Korea

A Roman Catholic since 1957, he has been called the "Nelson Mandela" of Asia and was a symbol of democratic opposition to the dictatorial government.

1998 - ? “Sunshine Policy”

Sunshine Policy

soften North Korea's attitudes towards the South by encouraging interaction and economic assistance

No armed provocation by the North will be tolerated.

The South will not attempt to absorb the North in any way.

The South actively seeks cooperation.

Message: its goal is peaceful co-existence rather than regime change

No formal policy of re-unification, though a unified Korea is still the stated long-term goal of South Korea

separation of politics and economics

Post-Cold War problems

North Korean famine occurred during the mid 1990s in North Korea and lasted until about 2001

unprecedented floods economic system relied on "friendship

prices" trade with the Soviet Union loss of guaranteed markets following the fall

of the Soviet Union.

Famine, Floods, Economics and Foreign Policy

1995, the United States government initially provided over $8 million in general humanitarian assistance

(China was the only country to initially contribute more aid).

200,000 to 3.5 million deaths to starvation 1999, food and development aid reduced famine

deaths 2003 U.S. provided $644 million in aid to the

country which comprised nearly 50% of the aid going to North Korea.

In the Dark?

2000, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il met at a summit meeting, the first between heads of state of

the two nations. greater political contact between the two nations

several high-profile business ventures

brief meetings of separated family members – North cancelled the 4th

State Terrorism / Continuation of the Korean War? Jan. 23, 1968, four NKN gunboats and two

MiG fighters attacked and captured the US spy ship Pueblo near Wonsan.

October 1983, President Chun Doo Hwan of South Korea assassination attempt in Burma.

Abduction of Japanese citizens from Japan – 1970s.

1987 in-flight bombing of KAL 858

SPF units infiltration of S Korea

majority of them simply walk into S Korea or via tunnels

Mini-submarines and high-speed craft

90 US-made helicopters. The latter are often disguised as S Korean military helicopters and perform reconnaissance over the enemy territory.

January 1983, four N Korean shrimp trawlers entered the Gulf of California.

Tunnels of Aggression or Coal Mines?

Combat Readiness Order in 1971 by Kim Il-Sung “one tunnel would be more effective than 10 atomic bombs and would thus be the best means to overwhelm the heavily fortified front.”

began digging tunnels under the DMZ at the same time that the South and the North first launched peace talks in 1974.

Discovery of three tunnels in 1974, 1975, 1978 160-300 ft below ground

More than 30,000 troops could move, three to four abreast (a division in strength), per hour as well as tanks, artillery and APCs & spacious troop assembly area

Fourth Tunnel (found March 1990)

N Korean Foreign Intelligence - Post-Korean War:

Over 10,000 foreigners have gone through N Korean guerrilla schools since 1960.

These have come from South Africa, Angola, PLO, Red Brigade, and other nationalist and terrorist groups.

N Korea operates some 30 guerrilla schools for foreigners within N Korea and some 50 foreign countries in Asia, Middle East, Africa and South America. Training classes last about 12 months and cover urban and rural guerrilla tactics, counterinsurgency, security, kidnapping, assassination, psychological warfare, communication, explosives and survival methods.

Money for the Regime: Counterfeit Currency

A superdollar or super note is an almost perfect counterfeit of a U.S. banknote

source of income undermine the U.S. economy. Circulating the late 1980s. 1994, several North Koreans were arrested in

Macao for depositing $250,000 in counterfeit US bills in a bank.

The Economist, North Korea prints $100 million in fake dollars each year

Money for the Regime: Drug trafficking

March 2003 narcotics exportation was highlighted with the Australianseizure of the Pong Su.

Embassy and diplomatic immunity sales heroin, amphetamines, and ryhopnol (known as the “date rape drug)—in Japan, China, Russia, Taiwan, Egypt, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Taiwan, and South Korea

Opium,estimated production in North Korea was between 30 metric tons and 44 metric tons

Money for the Regime: Missile Sales ballistic missile–related equipment, parts, materials, and

technical expertise to South America, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa

US$580 million in missile sales to the Middle East Iran sought to acquire 150 Nodong-1 missiles (a variant

of the Russian Scud) - paid North Korea US$500 million for further missile development

Syria reportedly shipped Soviet SS-21 short-range ballistic missiles to North Korea, which Pyongyang planned to reverse engineer and use to improve the accuracy of the Scud missile

South Korea, President

February 25, 2013, Park Geun-hye became the eleventh and current president. She is also the country's first woman to assume this post.

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)

North Korea and Foreign Policy

Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration, signed in 2002

economic assistance for North Korea including humanitarian aid and low-interest long-term loans

North Korea also agreed to extend its moratorium on missile tests, in place since 1999

Securing Security

Securing the Regime: North Korean People’s Army (NKPA)

fifth-largest military in the world largest percentage of citizens enlisted (49.03 active

troops per thousand citizens) 1.08 million armed personnel largest reserve force in the world standing at

4,700,000 Roughly 20% of North Korean men between the ages

of 17 and 54 serve in the regular armed forces. army remains largely an infantry force North, like the South, deploys the bulk of its forces

well forward, within 100 miles of the Korean DMZ

July 5, 2006 2x short-range Nodong-2

missiles 1x Scud missile 2x long-range Taepodong-2

missiles

2006 North Korean nuclear test

October 9, 2006 - detonation of a nuclear device

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718

adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on 14 October 2006

17 October 2006, North Korea said the United Nations had effectively declared war on the country when it imposed sanctions for the country's nuclear test.

Cult of Personality: Kim Il-Sung 김일성

Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972

President from 1972 to 1994 General Secretary of the

Korean Workers' Party Founder of Juche in place of

Marxist-Leninism Personality Cult – similar to

Stalinism (15 April 1912 – 8 July

1994) “Eternal President” &

“Great Leader”

Conclusions

U.S. seems quite ahistorical: not bound by history but beyond it

In Korea, “History” strongly influences the present (not yet PAST, just not yet finished)

– Several contentious periods, not forgotten

1. Colonial period in current politics:– Internationally, continuing issue with the Japanese

2. Korean War and the continuing problems of US-ROK-DPRK relations