Book No. – 52 (History)

Book Name – Modern World History (Norman Lowe)

What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)

• Foreign occupation in Korea and some Southeast Asian countries led to the development of communist parties, which played a vital role in the independence movements.
• Korea was under Japanese rule until the end of World War II, after which it regained independence but was divided into two states: North Korea (communist) and South Korea (non-communist).
• After the Korean War (1950–1953), the two Koreas remained strictly separate, with North Korea maintaining its communist system.
• Indo-China (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) was under French control. After World War II, France attempted to reimpose colonial rule despite its defeat.
• Vietnam and Laos resisted French reoccupation, with communist parties playing a prominent role in their independence struggles.
• In 1954, France admitted defeat, granting independence to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
• Despite independence, these countries did not experience a peaceful era:
  • North Vietnam engaged in a long conflict with South Vietnam (1961–1975), which became part of the Cold War.
  • The United States supported South Vietnam, while China helped North Vietnam.
  • North Vietnam won the conflict, and Vietnam was united under communist rule in 1975.
• Cambodia remained relatively peaceful under Prince Sihanouk until 1970, when it was drawn into the Vietnam War.
• Cambodia suffered heavy bombing by the USA for five years and endured a Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot(1975–1979), resulting in devastating destruction.
• In 1979, Vietnamese communist forces overthrew Pol Pot, and Cambodia had a more moderate communist government with Vietnamese backing.
• After ten years, Cambodia returned to a more democratic form of government, with Prince Sihanouk playing a leading role.
• Laos experienced civil war soon after independence, with right and left factions fighting for power.
• Laos was also drawn into the Vietnam War, despite its desire to remain neutral, and suffered indiscriminate US bombing.
• In 1975, the Pathet Lao communist organization took control of Laos, and the country has been under communist rule since then.

• Korea had been under Japanese occupation since 1905, following Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905).
• There was a strong Korean nationalist movement.
• At the Cairo Conference in 1943, the USA, UK, and China promised that a united, independent Korea would be created after the war.
• As Japan’s defeat seemed imminent in 1945, a free Korea appeared to be a real possibility.
• Soviet Union (USSR) declared war on Japan in August 1945, which introduced a new factor into Korea’s future.
• The USSR sought to gain influence in Korea, and its entry into the war meant it would have a say in Korea’s future.
• Soviet troops in Manchuria moved into the north of Korea even before the Japanese officially surrendered on September 2, 1945.
• The Soviets worked closely with Korean communists and nationalists, quickly disarming the Japanese occupation forces.
• The Korean People’s Republic was proclaimed, with Kim Il-sung, a communist leader, emerging as the dominant political figure.
• Kim Il-sung, trained in the USSR, began to introduce his version of Marxism-Leninism into the new state.
• The USA, worried about the Soviet influence, sent troops to occupy the south of Korea.
• The USA proposed dividing Korea along the 38th parallel into two zones of occupation: North (Soviet) and South (American).
• In the south, Syngman Rhee emerged as the leading nationalist and anti-communist politician, determined to unify Korea without communism.
• In response, Stalin poured massive Soviet aid into the north, transforming it into a powerful military state.
• In 1948, Stalin withdrew Soviet troops, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was proclaimed, with Kim Il-sung as premier.
• North Korea became an independent communist government before the communist victory in China.
• In 1949, after Mao Zedong became the leader of China, North Korea gained official diplomatic recognition from China, the USSR, and the communist states of Eastern Europe.

• The dominating question post-war was the fate of the Allied promise of a united Korea.
• The USA wanted a united, anti-communist, and pro-Western Korea, while the USSR and China (after 1949) wanted a communist unified Korea.
• Both the USA and USSR were reluctant to become closely involved.
• Given entrenched positions of Kim Il-sung and Syngman Rhee, the dilemma seemed insoluble.
• The United Nations was tasked with organizing elections for the whole country as a first step toward unification.
• Kim Il-sung refused to hold elections in North Korea because the population of the north was much smaller than the south, which would have led to a communist minority in the unified country.
• Elections were held in the south, and the new National Assembly elected Rhee as the first president of the Republic of Korea.
• North Korea held its own elections, resulting in Kim Il-sung’s victory.
• Both Rhee and Kim claimed to represent the whole of Korea.
• In June 1949, the USA withdrew its troops from South Korea as Rhee became an embarrassment due to his corruptand authoritarian rule, almost as extreme as Kim’s in the north.
• The withdrawal of foreign troops left the situation in Korea potentially unstable and dangerous.
• On 25 June 1950, after several border clashes, North Korean forces invaded South Korea.
• Rhee’s armies quickly began to collapse, and the communists seemed on the verge of unifying the country under their government in Pyongyang.
• The reasons for Kim Il-sung’s attack are still debated among historians.
• By the time the peace agreement was signed in 1953, at least 4 million Koreans had lost their lives.
• The Korean peninsula remained divided into two heavily armed and mutually suspicious states for the foreseeable future.

• Kim Il-sung survived with Chinese help after the war.
• After the war, Kim focused on eliminating all remaining domestic opposition, starting with non-communist groupsand then rivals within the Korean Communist Party.
• Kim established himself as an absolute ruler, remaining in power until his death in 1994.
• Though a communist, Kim had his own ideas, distinct from the USSR and China.
• He began a program of industrialization and collectivization of agriculture, aiming for self-sufficiency in the economy to avoid dependency on communist allies.
• Despite striving for self-sufficiency, he accepted considerable aid from the USSR and China, enabling rapid economic expansion in the first ten years after the war.
• Living standards improved, and the future under Kim’s regime seemed promising.
• Great emphasis was placed on strengthening military power after disappointing performance in the war.
• The army and air force were expanded, and new military airfields were built.
• Kim continued to pursue the dream of bringing the south under his control.
• Society was regimented to achieve self-sufficiency, with the state controlling the economy, labor force, resources, military, and media.
• Kim’s propaganda system built up his personality cult as the infallible leader.
• The media and communications were tightly controlled, making North Korea one of the most isolated and secretive states.
• In the mid-1960s, self-sufficiency was officially defined as: autonomy in ideology, independence in politics, self-sufficiency in economy, and self-reliance in defense.
• Kim continued his anti-south campaign, including an unsuccessful assassination attempt on the South Korean president in 1968.
• With improving East-West relations in the 1970s, North Korea called off its campaign and began talks with the south.
• In July 1972, both sides agreed to work peacefully for unification.
• North Korea’s policy was erratic, with proposals for a federal state in 1980 and violent acts such as the 1983 bomb explosion and the 1987 airliner bombing.
• In 1991, high-level talks led to a joint renunciation of violence and nuclear weapons, but no significant progress was made while Kim remained in charge.
• In the late 1960s, North Korea’s economy faced difficulties due to the growing rift between the USSR and China.
• Kim struggled with which side to support, switching from pro-Soviet to pro-China, then trying to remain independent of both.
• When Kim moved away from Moscow in the late 1950s, Soviet aid was sharply reduced.
• In 1966, with the start of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Chinese aid was cut off.
• After aid from both Soviet Union and China ended, none of Kim’s development plans reached their targets.
• A heavy focus on military spending and heavy industry drained resources, neglecting consumer goods and luxuries.
• A rapid population increase strained agriculture and food industries, causing a decline in living standards.
• Life became harder, with basic living conditions for most people.
• In the 1980s, the economy recovered, but by the 1990s, with the loss of Russian aid, more difficulties arose.