Rethinking of the Division and Korean War
 
By Kuk Min-ho, Professor, Dept. of Sociology
 
Whenever June 25 comes we think of why Korea was divided into two and how the tragedy of Korean War happened in this country when Korea had just achieved liberation from the 35 years of Japanese colonial rule.
When we look back on the history, even though the war was driven to the last stage in August 1945, the Allied leaders still lacked a consensus on Korea's fate. Actually many Koreans on the peninsula made their own efforts to rebuild Korea after the Korean emancipation. Koreans never thought of the re-occupation of the peninsula by foreign powers. But as a colony of Japan, Korean people had been systematically excluded from the important decision making of the fate of Korea’s future. The 38th-parallel decision is an example. It was drawn accidently and discretionally by the work of two young American colonels.
Two days following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, Soviet troops invaded Manchuria following the agreement of Yalta Conference, and moved rapidly southward on Korean peninsula. American leaders worried that the whole peninsula might be occupied by the Soviet Unions.
On August 10, 1945, John McCloy, the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee, directed two young colonels to withdraw to an adjoining room and find a place to divide Korea. Given thirty minutes to do so, the two young American colonels looked at a small National Geographic map of Asia and chose the 38th-parallel, dividing Korea approximately in half because it would place the capital Seoul under American control. It was the prime consideration of the choice of the 38th-parallel decision. A few days later, on August 15, General MacArthur made public the 38th-parallel decision.
In spite of the strong opposition of all Koreans, the United States and the Soviet Unions occupied the country as a trusteeship with the zone of control demarcated along the 38th parallel. The independence of Korea would come only after an appropriate time, in due course. In the process, the aspirations of Korean people were totally ignored.
The Korean War solved nothing, only restored the status quo ante. The armistice agreement left two Koreas permanently separated by the DMZ, remaining technically at war through today. South and North Korea still face each other across a heavily fortified DMZ to maintain an unrelenting struggle. Since 1990s the two Koreas have held two symbolic meetings and increased economic cooperation, the reunification is still a relatively distant goal.
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