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Death, destruction, loved ones lost, and separation are all phrases commonly heard in North and South Korea for over the last fifty years. The division of this Asian peninsula into the independent nations of North Korea and South Korea brought terror and torment to the people living there. But now in a new era, words like hope, peace, and reunification can be heard from these same people. Reunification seems to be the most logical course of action to heal the rift at the 38 th parallel. The healing process will take time, but it has begun.
However knowing the process of how it may be resolved will do no good without knowing how it all went wrong. Japans interest in Korea led them to attack the Russians at Port Arthur on February 8 th, 1904. This was the start of the Russo-Japanese War. Russia lost the war in 1905. Japans victory over Russia proved to the world that Japan was a world power and allowed them to gain control of Korea in 1910 (web). The Japanese began exploiting its resources, while also attempting to eliminate the Korean language, names and national identity (web).
The treatment of the Koreans by the Japanese was comparable to the treatment of African Americans during the pre-Civil War era. In 1919 Japans abuse of the Koreans led to the March First Movement, a demonstration that ended with the death of thousands of innocent Koreans. During World War II, Koreans were forced into labor by their Japanese oppressors. Japans downfall in WWII allowed the United States of America and the U. S. S.
R. to occupy Korea (web). The US located troops in the south and U. S. S. R.
did so in the north. The cold war split the peninsula of Korea in two, with the U. S. S. R. establishing a communist government in the north, and the United States establishing a capitalistic democratic government in the south.
On August 15 th 1945 Korea was divided at the 38 th parallel of north latitude (Loyd). This caused the separation of many families. In 1947 The UN General Assembly declared that a single government would be elected for the entire nation. The Soviet Union would not allow elections in the north, but the south elected to have somewhat democratic national assembly and became the Republic of Korea. Later the communist north declared themselves the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and is led by Kim Il Sung. Both the north and south believed that the whole peninsula was their own which caused skirmishes to break out along the 38 th parallel.
The United States removed its military support from Korea in 1949 giving the communists a chance to strike. (Loyd). This full force strike took place in 1950 when the north invaded the south. This was June 25 th 1950. This was the beginning of the Korean War. UN troops from the U. S. , England, Turkey, Australia and the Philippines helped repulse the North Koreans and drove them all the way to the Chinese border.
The Chinese counterattacked in support of the North Koreans, and over the next three years Seoul changed hands four times. The war finally ended in July 1953, with nearly 3 million dead and the Koreas separated by the most heavily guarded border in the world (web). Today the boarder is heavily guarded by thousands of American troops. After the war the north and souths relations were still quite bad. Much like the Russian leader Stalin, Kim Il Sung, leader of North Korea who to the North Koreans was more of a god than political leader, eliminated his political rivals and proceeded to build one of the worlds greatest armies.
North Korea became very close, politically, with China. They relied heavily on the Soviets and Chinese for economic and military support (web). North Korea opted for a "closed-door policy" towards all nations except those with Communist governments (web). Needless to say their relations with the US decreased drastically. Kim Il Sung poured twenty five percent of his countries gross national product into this military machine (web). The United States and South Korea have been allies for many years.
They fought along side each other in the Korean War. The US holds much gratitude for South Korea because of the gracious help they received when trying to prevent communism to spread in the 1950 s. To this day there is over 37, 000 US soldiers stationed in South Korea (web). The increasing tensions did not halt.
The North Koreans continued to attack South Korea by explosive hit and run assignations of political members and civilians. Burma, 1983, a bomb planted by North Korean agents killed eleven South Korean delegates. Another in 1987 destroyed an airliner carrying one-hundred and fifteen South Koreans (web). None survived. Thirteen South Korean soldiers and twenty-four North Korean commandos were killed in 1996 during a man hunt for the crew of a North Korean spy submarine that beached in Southern territory.
Despite the step back in relations, North Korea got off with only the need for apology. Three years later in 1999 there was a skirmish between North and South Korean ships. The skirmish was minor, but still did no good (web). Easing the pain of both countries has occurred by decreasing the tension. Many of these events have occurred more recently, and their effectiveness has shown in the increasing positive relationship between the north and south. In 1988 there was a major economic breakthrough.
Trade between North and South Korea was finally permitted (web). This boosted North Koreas economy a great deal, and was one of the first steps in the long hard healing process. Kim Dae-Jung has improved relations more in the last four years then anyone has in the last fifty years. Elected president of South Korea in 1998 [he] promised economic reforms, more democracy and a conciliatory line with North Korea (web).
These began with the Sunshine Policy, a policy made to establish a ground in which North and South Korea can interact. Summer [of 200 ], Kim Dae-jung made a historic tr...
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