If the U.S. supported the KPG and KLA as the Nationalist Chinese kept insisting, the landscape in northeast Asia would have been very different today. The recognition of KPG as the legitimate government of Korea would have automatically placed it as the new government of Korea as soon as Japan surrendered. This would have eliminated any need to hold national elections, combining the political parties of the north and south as was proposed, and which never came about. There would have been no opportunity for the Soviet Union to appoint Kim Il Sung or anyone else as the head of communist North Korea, because there would have been just one Korea with the KPG leader as the president of the newly established free Korea. The KPG would have simply transitioned into becoming the government of Korea, dropping the "provisional" tag.
Ironically, Syngman Rhee, the first president of the Republic of Korea probably would not have become president. Rhee supposedly defeated his opponent Kim, who was the KPG leader until 1945 when KPG was abolished. The 1947 elections that Rhee won was a fraud filled election and Kim was cheated out of the presidency. Remember? Rhee was the first KPG leader but he was impeached by his own colleagues! So cheating was not something that was new to Rhee. Ultimately Rhee lost his stranglehold on the presidency when a coupe was carried out and Park Chung Hee, the father of the current ROK president took office.
The KLA would have transitioned into becoming the new army of ROK. It would have been an easy transition. There would have been no North Korea, no North Korean People's Army, and most importantly, no Korean War.
Interesting, to think how things could have turned out only if we had more insightful, more knowledgeable people who made correct decisions.
Nick, I'm fascinated by the information in your Blogs.
ReplyDeleteI must confess that we have been on a couple of trips, so I'm a wee bit behind in my reading. However, I'm going to change that, starting at the beginning again and reading all of your posts.
The comment on the Korean War really peaked my interest. My father was sent to Russian language school at the Presidio (spelling?) just before the Korean War. The unit that he left to go to the school went to Korea ...only two came back ... both critically injured. We were fortunate to have my father, but it would have been wonderful if that war had been avoided!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. "Bernice"
Bernice, thanks for your comments. Having lived through the Korean War as a child, it is a very personal thing for me and interests me greatly. Actually, the whole business of Manchuria and Korea is of great interest to me, as you might have guessed from my book and my blogs. I was born in Harbin, Manchuria and lived in Manchuria and Korea as a very young child before coming to Japan, and later to Okinawa. I am always surprised and disappointed at the lack of information about what went on in those countries....hence my book and the blogs. I will try to keep the blogs interesting. Nick
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