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South Korea SOUTH KOREA UNDER UNITED STATES OCCUPATION, 1945-48
The three-year occupation by the United States of the area
approximating present-day South Korea, following the liberation
of Korea from Japan, was characterized by uncertainty and
confusion. This difficult situation stemmed largely from the
absence of a clearly formulated United States policy for Korea,
the intensification of the confrontation between the United
States and the Soviet Union, and the polarization of Korean
politics between left and right. Although the United States had
maintained diplomatic ties with the Choson Dynasty between 1882
and 1905, Korea in 1945 still was a remote country known only to
a small number of missionaries and adventurous businessmen,
holding little importance in the official scheme of things. And
although the United States had proposed the thirty-eighth
parallel as a dividing line between the two occupation armies,
United States policymakers still were unsure of the strategic
value of South Korea. United States policy toward Korea became
more uncertain after the deadlock of the United States-Soviet
joint commission. While United States officials were pessimistic
about resolving their differences with the Soviet Union, they
remained committed to the December 1945 decision of the Allied
foreign ministers (made during their Moscow meeting) that a
trusteeship under four powers, including China, should be
established with a view toward Korea's eventual independence.
Thus, United States officials were slow to draw up long-range
alternative plans for South Korea.
Moreover, as the Soviet Union consolidated its power in North
Korea and the Nationalist Party (Guomindang or Kuomintang--KMT)
government of Chiang Kai-shek began to falter in China, United
States strategists began to question the long-run defensibility
of South Korea. By 1947 it appeared that South Korea would become
the only area of mainland Northeast Asia not under communist
control. According to one highly placed official, this was an
"exposed, unsound military position, one that [was] doing no
good."
Lieutenant General John R. Hodge, commander of the United
States occupation forces in Korea, was obliged to work under a
severe handicap--a mission of maintaining peace and order until
the international conflict over Korea was resolved. Possessing
very limited resources, Hodge was expected to pursue the
"ultimate objective" of fostering "conditions which would bring
about the establishment of a free and independent nation."
General Hodge had to contend with hostile Korean political
groups. Before United States forces had landed in Korea in
September 1945, the Koreans had established self-governing
bodies, or people's committees. The leaders of these committees
had organized the Central People's Committee, which proclaimed
the establishment of the "Korean People's Republic" on September
6, 1945. Exiles, abroad, mainly in China, had organized the
"Korean Provisional Government" in Shanghai as early as 1919 and
had sustained a skeletal organization in other parts of China
until 1945.
The United States recognized neither the republic nor the
provisional government. The provisional government was headed by
Syngman Rhee, its first president, and Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-sik,
premier, and vice premier, respectively. The United States would
not recognize any group as a government until an agreement was
reached among the Western Allies. The exiles were mollified by
the favorable treatment they received when they returned to South
Korea, but were incensed by the United States Military Government
in Korea's order to disband. The United States Army military
government that administered the American-occupied zone proceeded
to disband the local people's committees and impose direct rule,
assigning military personnel who lacked language skills and
knowledge of Korea as governors at various levels.
The Korean Communist Party, resuscitated in October 1945, had
been a major force behind the Central People's Committee and the
"Korean People's Republic," and quickly built a substantial
following among the workers, farmers, and students. The party
eventually changed its stance on trusteeship and came out in
support of it on January 3, 1946. Because the party was under the
control of the Soviet command in P'yongyang, it came into direct
confrontation with the United States military government.
The situation was exacerbated in December 1945 when the
decision to establish a trusteeship was announced. To the
Koreans, who had anticipated immediate independence, the decision
to implement a five-year trusteeship was humiliating, and the
initially warm welcome to United States troops as liberators
cooled. By early 1946, the United States military government had
come to rely heavily on the advice and counsel of ideologically
conservative elements, including landlords and other propertied
persons.
The United States initially supported the returned exiles and
the conservative elements, but between May 1946 and April 1947,
the military government tried to mobilize support behind a
coalition between the moderate left represented by Yo Un-hyong
(or Lyuh Woon Hyung), who had been the figurehead of the Central
People's Committee, and the moderate right, represented by Kim
Kyu-sik, vice premier of the exiled government. This attempt only
intensified splits within the left-wing and right-wing camps
without producing any positive results. The moderates' argument
that the Koreans should oppose the trusteeship was unacceptable
to the other parties. Communist leaders, on the other hand, were
driven underground in May 1946 after the discovery of a currencycounterfeiting operation run by the party. The left-wing and
right-wing groups, in the meantime, frequently engaged in violent
clashes not only on ideological grounds, but also because of
their opposing views about the trusteeship decision.
In December 1946, the military government established the
South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly to formulate draft laws
to be used as "the basis for political, economic, and social
reforms." South Korea's problems, however, required solutions at
a much higher level. The left-wing political groups, consolidated
under the rubric of the South Korean Workers' Party, ignored the
assembly. The conservative Korean Democratic Party, supported by
landlords and small-business owners, opposed the assembly because
their principal leaders were excluded from it. Although many of
the assembly's forty-five elected members were conservatives,
most of the forty-five appointed members were moderates nominated
by Kim Kyu-sik, who had emerged as Hodge's choice for political
leadership. Unfortunately, Kim lacked dynamism and broad support
among the masses.
Data as of June 1990
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