Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Stout]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/01/117_102093.html

The Jeju government�s plan to repair a villa of former President Sygnman Rhee on the resort island has been halted after the province�s oversight council cut the budget for the project.

While the local government wants the old cottage to be immediately repaired, the council opposes it, saying the Rhee administration was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jeju residents.

The Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Government planned to repair the villa, named �gwibinsa� (VIP house), at a total cost of 246 million won ($212,700) � half from the local authority and the rest from the central government.

The house, Registered Cultural Property No. 113, was built in Gujwa, Jeju City, on some 234 square meters of land in 1957 when Rhee established a ranch there. The land currently belongs to a private company.

Early last year, the building received the lowest grade for structural safety, requiring urgent repair.

But the provincial council put the brakes on, citing the inappropriateness of preserving a vestige of the Rhee administration.

Under Rhee, Jeju people were persecuted and up to 30,000 were killed in a de-facto civil war that started on April 3 1948 � the Jeju Uprising.

[catman]

I don't believe there are any monuments to Rhee.

[rollo]

Rhee was installed by the commision which oversaw Korea which was china, the U.s. and Russia. the U.S. wanted Rhee because he had spent time in the U.S. was educated in the WEst, (one of the few Koreans that had attended a Western University) spoke English and was married to an Austrian woman. Sounded good. Turned out to be a brute. the U.S thought he would play ball but he was very difficult to deal with and any oppositon was met with violence. Old feuds were settled with bullets

The massacres in the North were worse, not as much information on them but it can be found. Kim was installed by the soviets with Mao's blessing even though Kim did not speak Korean. He was supposed to be the soviets puppet but he also was a terror to deal with. Killed thousands imprisoned thousands more. Kim was very good at playing the Russians off the Chinese.

Conquered by the Japanese who overthrew a corrupt dynasty who ruled a slave state. Brutalzed by the Japanese, then dictatorships and a bloody civil war. It is amazing that South Korea is as free and open as it is today. it says a lot for the Korean people. Hopefully the North will one day be free of the Kim mafia

[Captain Corea]

[Stout]

[rollo]

Nope. Kim grew up in china speaking mandarin. He only lived a brief while in Korea. The Russians sent him to language school so he could give a speech in Korean then they sent him back. He was just supposed to be a front man for the Russians, it was not intended for him to have real power or even stay in the position very long.

[jvalmer]

[rollo]

Yeah I would think he still had a very rudimentary grasp of some of the language but not enough for conversation or giving speeches. But then I would think that a lot of the Korean community that had grown up in China who's parents had fled the Japanese conquest were in the same boat.

[litebear]

From wiki:

Kim arrived in North Korea on 22 August after 26 years in exile. According to Leonid Vassin, an officer with the Soviet MVD, Kim was essentially "created from zero." For one, his Korean was marginal at best; he'd only had eight years of formal education, all of it in Chinese. He needed considerable coaching to read a speech the MVD prepared for him at a Communist Party congress three days after he arrived.

[bucheon bum]

That would explain why North Koreans never heard KJI speak... His father started the trend, he just continued it.

[bekinseki]

[rollo]

Who know who killed who. Kim's army did a lot of "cleansing" as it drove south. titles like pro-Japanese or communist were often just cover to settle old scores or petty feuds. Remember that there was and still is a lot of inter- provincial tensions in Korea. I once lived near two large mounds this was near Daegu. the mounds were the only marking of the mass graves, all that was left of a farming village that Kim's troops passed through.
The thread title was very accurate, well done! Everything from Dokdo to the touchiness, their pride, their distrust of foreigners comes from their bloody history. Koreans are a very very strong people who I admire. Knowing their history can help expats in many ways.

The topic was Jeju and the slaughter. Jeju was basically a communist stronghold at least that is Rhee's story. U.S administration was severely hampered by the language and cultural barrier. they basically had to trust and support Rhee even when they suspected that he was a murderous tyrant. General Hodge disliked Koreans and really didnt care what they did to each other. if Rhee said they were communist or a Japanese collaborator who really knew.