Korea in the 1900s Japanese Occupation Liberation and

1
Korea in the 1900sJapanese OccupationLiberation
and Division

• 19

2
Japanese Occupation1910-1945

• Koreans continue to look to US as potential
  savior
• Look to Protestant churches as special connection
  to America
• Japan annexes Korea 1910
• Taft-Katsura Agreement
• US concurs secretly that Japan should lead to
  modernize and develop Korea
• Protestant Missionaries agree
• Japan is the one modern Asian Nation
• Koreans need Japanese tutelage
• Koreans today see this as a major betrayal

3
Japanese OccupationIndependence Movements

• Case of 105, 1911
• Alleged plot to assassinate Japanese occupation
  officials
• 105 arrested
• Heavy Christian component
• Christians seen as nationalists and loyalists
• Japanese recognized Christian problem but
  looked away because they needed Western
  acquiescence for the occupation

4
Japanese OccupationIndependence Movements

• Case of 105, 1911 cont.
• Churches maintained national organizations
• Sermons focused on Moses and Exodus from Egypt
• YMCA became a political organization
• lots of them not really Christian just
  political
• Missionaries tried to depoliticize churches and
  YMCA but failed

5
March 1st Movement

• March 1st Movement, 1919
• Declaration of Independence
• 35 signatories
• half Christian Clergy
• Coordinated protests throughout the nation
• Led by religious leaders, mostly Christians and
  Chondokyo, some Buddhists
• Peaceful
• Japanese response
• was mass violence
• Attack churches

Provisional Government
6
March 1st Movement
7
March 1st Movement

• After March 1st Movement
• Korean Protestants Heavily persecuted
• Most pastors rejected Exodus theology
• Focused on next world salvation
• Some still worked for independence
• YMCA Study Groups
• Teaching Hangul and Korean history in Sunday
  Schools and Bible Schools

March 1st Movement Trial
8
Japanese Occupation Independence Movements

• 1935 Shinto Shrine Controversy and Christians in
  Korea
• Japan requires all schools to start with Shinto
  rights revering the Emperor
• Some Pastors see it as Shinto Worship
• Presbytery concludes it is political
• Most Christian Schools comply rather than shut
  down
• Some prefer to shut down and pastors in Pyongyang
  go to jail
• Christians again get credit for being
  anti-Japanese and independence activists

9
Japanese Occupation Independence Movements

• Independence Movements in Exile
• US Based Syngman Rhee
• Raised money in US to support Korean independence
  
• Based in Hawaii
• Lobbied among US leaders to support Korea
• Heavy Methodist support

10
Japanese Occupation Independence Movements

• Independence Movements in Exile China and
  Soviet Based Kim Il Sung
• Studied Marxism/Leninism
• Engaged in Anti-Japanese gorilla attacks
• Mobilized for Russian and then Soviet and Chinese
  support for Korean independence

Kim Il Sung as Japanese resistance fighter
11
Occupation

• Repression under Japan
• READ When my Name was Keoko
• Japanese Language
• Japanese Names
• Japanese Education
• Forced labor and military service
• Comfort Women

12
WW II in Korean History

• World War II
• Pearl Harbor
• US Plan Germany first, then Japan

13
WW II in Korean History

• Cairo Conference
• 1943
• Korea to be occupied
• Korean Independence in due time

14
WW II in Korean History

• Yalta Conference
• Feb. 411, 1945
• USSR to join war on Japan 3 months after German
  surrender
• USSR to participate in occupation of Korea

15
WW II in Korean History

• Potsdam Conference
• July 17Aug. 2, 1945
• Yalta Conference arrangements for Korea Confirmed

16
WW II in Korean History

• August 6, 1945, Atom bomb on Hiroshima
• August 8, 1945, Russians enter the war against
  Japan, fulfilling their Yalta Conference
  agreement
• August 9, 1945, Atom bomb on Nagasaki

17
WW II in Korean History

• August 10/11, 1945 (about midnight), young
  colonels, Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel, under
  orders from Gen. McArthur, draw a division line
  at the 38th parallel, keeping the capital city,
  Seoul, in the American area.
• August 15, 1945, Japan Surrenders.

18
Cold War History Korea

• US occupies Southern Korea, Soviets occupy North
• USA/USSR tensions emerge almost at once

• USA envisions capitalist democracy
• USSR envisions communist government

19
Postwar South Korea

• Peoples committees all over Korea
• Japanese forces provide US occupation lists of
  good and communist Koreans
• US occupation accepts Japanese assessment,
  effectively labeling Anti-Japanese activists as
  communists
• US Employs Collaborators as officials

20
Postwar South Korea

• October, 1945
• Syngman Rhee returned to South Korea from the US
• Welcomed as a nationalist resistance leader by US
  leadership.
• Clearly the US favorite for new Korean government
• Incorporates Christian elite into his movement
• Chooses a policy of forgiveness and
  reconciliation toward collaborators
• Rhees major potential rivals all die in
  assassinations or accidents

21
North Korea

• October, 1945
• Kim Il Sung returns to North Korea from Manchuria

• Welcomed by Soviets as a nationalist resistance
  leader
• Purges collaborators
• Attacks capitalists
• Excludes Christian elite
• Attacks Churches as the only institution that
  could challenge his supremacy
• Christians learn that Christianity and Communism
  dont mix
• Kims major potential rivals all die in
  assassinations or accidents

22
Postwar Dictators

• Both Rhee in the South and Kim in the North are
  tyrannical and dictatorial
• Rhee is OUR tyrant Hes Christian, pro-American,
  Capitalist, and Speaks English
• Kim is THE SOVIETS tyrant Hes Communist,
  pro-Soviet, Speaks Chinese and some Russian
• Neither is Democratic
• Neither stands truly independent of his
  occupation supporters
• Each blusters about unifying the nation by force
  under his own legitimate government

23
Cold War History US

• Containment
• 1947
• George Kennan writes Mr. X article
• Coins term and policy of Containment
• Emerging Cold War conflict between USA and USSR
• No compromise possible from either the US or USSR
  perspective

24
Two Koreas

• Joint elections impractical
• Two separate Korean Governments established
• 1948 Elections in both North and South Korea
• Soviets withdraw troops
• Soviets and NK point to US occupation as proof
  that SK government is a puppet
• US withdraws troops from SK to bolster claim of
  SK legitimacy

25
Korean War

• January 12, 1950
• United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson
• US Press Club
• US Vital Interests
• America's Pacific defense perimeter
• Implies that the U.S. might not fight over Korea
• This omission encouraged the North and the Soviets

US Vital Interests
26
Korean War

• War begins June 25, 1950
• North Korea Invades
• Takes all but Pusan

X ? Pusan

• US Proposes UN action to defend South Korea
• Soviet Ambassador storms out in protest
  forgetting to use his veto

27
Korean War

• MacArthur assigned to command UN forces
• Incheon landing, September 15 - September 28,
  1950

28
Korean War

• MacArthur Insists on pushing to Chinese border
• Rants about liberating China
• Seems to ignore President Trumans policy

X ? Pusan

• January 4, 1951 Communist Chinese and North
  Korean forces recapture Seoul.
• April 11, 1951 MacArthur removed from command by
  President Truman.
• Stalemate, July, 1951

29
Korean War and Christianity

• During Korean War Christians flock South
• Bring with them horror stories of anti-Christian
  Persecution under communism
• Establish large, successful protestant churches
  in South Korea
• ALL South Koreans learn this history and ALL
  South Koreans believe that
• Christians CAN NOT be communists
• Communists CAN NOT be Christian
• This matters in the role that Christian Churches
  play later

30
Korean Division

• Originally 38th parallel
• Post Korean War Red line called the DMZ

31
Korean War Ends

• Cease Fire July 27, 1953
• Neither Korea Signed Armistice
• State of war continues
• Both Koreas considered themselves the only
  legitimate authority
• Both Koreas had authoritarian dictatorships at
  least through 1987
• North Korea still has a dictatorship (2010)

32
Post Korean War History

• South Korea 40,000 US troops remain to guard
  South Korea (Now 29,000)
• US supports pro American authoritarian regimes
• North Korea Chinese troops leave
• North argues that South Korea is an occupied
  country, not independent
• North sees US troops as a threat

33
South Korea

• Rhees South Korea languishes
• Corruption, incompetence,
• and cheating on elections lead to
• Syngman Rhees departure 1960
• Student Riots erupt
• Rhee tries to suppress them
• US Government intervenes
• Suggests Rhees retirement to Hawaii provides
  military transport for his exodus
• Side Note Buck Shaffer told me about his memory
  of these riots, he and the Panther Band were in
  Seoul for a USO tour at the time.

34
South Korea

• Chang Myon
• Establishes leadership of the government upon
  Rhees departure
• Chang is a Catholic
• Unrest, labor strikes and democracy movements
  create chaos
• Military Coup brings Military to power in South
  Korea

35
South Korea

• Park Chung Hee leads South Korea
• Military Dictator
• Harsh discipline
• Anti-communist
• Economic development for national security
• Fantastic economic growth
• Terrible human rights

36
North Korea

• Kim Il Sung in North Korea
• Juche Ideology
• National independence
• Aligned with USSR and China
• Plays them off against each other until 1991
• Standard pattern of brinksmanship to get what he
  wants