|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
|
 Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:38 am Post subject: |
 |
|
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| aq8knyus wrote: |
The anti-US this is also puzzling, I mean its not hyperbole to say that the US was the reason that the Japanese Empire in Korea ended and that without the US South Korea would not exist.
|
While this is undeniably true it is also 100% true that the U.S reason(s) for entering WWII had nothing to do with the freedom of Korea. At the end of WWII it cut a deal with the Soviets to divide up Korea with a cavalier disregard for the locals' wishes. |
Military experts were trying to come up with a compromise that would lead to the least amount of bloodshed. Even with 20/20 hindsight, can you tell me what a better strategic move from the United States should have been? To tell the Soviets, whose forces were already halfway down the peninsula, to leave right away? To let them have the whole peninsula?
| Quote: |
| The division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea stems from the 1945 Allied victory in World War II, ending Japan's 35-year colonial rule of Korea. In a proposal opposed by nearly all Koreans, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to temporarily occupy the country as a trusteeship with the zone of control demarcated along the 38th parallel. The purpose of this trusteeship was to establish a Korean provisional government which would become "free and independent in due course."[1] Though elections were scheduled, the Soviet Union refused to cooperate with United Nations plans to hold general and free elections in the two Koreas, and as a result, a Communist state was permanently established under Soviet auspices in the north and a pro-Western state was set up in the south.[2] The two superpowers backed different leaders and two states were effectively established, each of which claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean peninsula. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_Korea
| Quote: |
| On August 8, 1945, during the final days of World War II, the Soviet Union declared war against Japan and launched an invasion of Manchuria and Korea. |
http://countrystudies.us/south-korea/8.htm
| Quote: |
Unless an agreement were reached, the Soviets could very well occupy the entire peninsula and place Korea under their control. Thus, on August 15, 1945, President Harry S Truman proposed to Stalin the division of Korea at the thirty-eighth parallel. The next day Stalin agreed. Evidently Stalin did not wish to confront the United States by occupying the entire peninsula. He may also have hoped that the United States, in return, would permit the Soviet Union to occupy the northern half of the northernmost major Japanese island, Hokkaido.
The Allied foreign ministers subsequently met in Moscow on December 7, 1945, and decided to establish a trusteeship for a five-year period, during which a Korean provisional government would prepare for full independence; they also agreed to form a joint United States-Soviet commission to assist in organizing a single "provisional Korean democratic government." |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 10:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| World Traveler wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| aq8knyus wrote: |
The anti-US this is also puzzling, I mean its not hyperbole to say that the US was the reason that the Japanese Empire in Korea ended and that without the US South Korea would not exist.
|
While this is undeniably true it is also 100% true that the U.S reason(s) for entering WWII had nothing to do with the freedom of Korea. At the end of WWII it cut a deal with the Soviets to divide up Korea with a cavalier disregard for the locals' wishes. |
Military experts were trying to come up with a compromise that would lead to the least amount of bloodshed. Even with 20/20 hindsight, can you tell me what a better strategic move from the United States should have been? To tell the Soviets, whose forces were already halfway down the peninsula, to leave right away? To let them have the whole peninsula?
[] |
I am simply pointing out the fact that it is a bit rich to expect the citizens of a country that was artificially divided without even letting them have a say in the matter to feel overly grateful. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
