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this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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Who instated the genocidal anti-communust dictator Syngman Rhee in South Korea? Who supported and armed him? Who has maintained a military presence in the south constantly threatening the north?
Don't get me wrong, N. Korea has since become a brutal dictatorship as well, but in the 50s the south was even worse. The north didn't just invade for fun - they were constantly provoked and threatened by the south.
Re. your first point, 100% the USA.
However, that's one hell of a goalpost shift from "directly caused" to supported half... Also the North were provoked and threatened by the South as much as the South were by the North... The North invading was largely because they thought they could take the South though, not because they were scared by the South into doing it.
I think who provoked whom is a bit orthogonal to the dicussion though there is definitely merit in knowing the history accurately.
If one considers that Kim Il Sung with the help of USSR and China defeated Japanese colonisers, then the USA swoops in and reinstates some Japanese and their Korean collaborators to positions of authority in their half of the split, I think it would make sense if North Korea invaded without provocation. No blood was spilt by the Americans in the process of Korean liberation directly.
I'm talking about the leadup to the war, I'm not denying that the north invaded but it didn't happen unprovoked or even unjustified.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_uprising
Just because you're korean and have some personal connection doesn't mean youre immune to propaganda or that your countrys history hasn't been misrepresented for propaganda purposes.
Kim Il Sung was a war hero who liberated the Korean peninsula from the Japanese, and almost liberated it from the USA. You're incredibly ungrateful because it's thanks to him that you're allowed to speak Korean today.
This is tankie garbage. Syngman Rhee was certainly horrible. But he was not instated. He was voted in. He had a very long history of being in Korean politics. He was certainly given a boost by the Americans. But he was also given a boost by Kim refusing to participate in the elections.
And let us not pretend that the soviets and Chinese involved were just liberators. They had their own political games they were playing and boosted Kim just as much. The elections in the north were completely controlled by the soviets. And you gripe about the presence of American troops, but support the Chinese troops in the north.
The north didn't invade for fun. The north invaded because Kim thought he could have even more power and that the US would not intervene. He was wrong. He would have been completely removed had it not been for the Chinese.
Both sides had imperialistic outside support from corrupt governments. Both sides used totalitarianism to maintain control. One side is currently the most inhumane country on the planet and the other has a modern standard of living. To say the south was worse in a very short time period is ridiculous. In reality, due to the harsh restrictions and cult of personality in the north we do not even really know how bad the north was. The standard of living may have been better, but concerning totalitarian governments it is impossible to say.