WI unified post-WWII Korea?

[raharris1973]

WI the US opposed the partition and occupation of Korea and instead recognized the postwar People's Republic of Korea. US naval units merely provide a water taxi for repatriating Chinese. The US attempts to get political support and pressure from the other allies to argue Soviet entry into Korea is also unnecessary.

Despite its name, the People's Republic of Korea wasn't communist. It's cabinet was mostly made of conservative Koreans. Many had served the Japanese occupation regime, but one couldn't be an elite Korean without having worked with them to one degree or another.

The US logic in this situation is that there's no enthusiasm in the American government or military for sending troops there. They are more sensitive than in OTL to "bring the boys home sentiment" and dissatisfaction that broke into mutinies in 1946. Besides Chiang Kai-shek is making demands for near-term US help. The Americans would rather the Soviets not occupy the whole place also, so their quick fix is to "recognize" a united Korea's independence even if they are pretty sure its "premature" for the Koreans.
They are prepared to provide the regime UNRRA aid of course.

Can we keep the Soviets from having anything more than an ephemeral presence - how would things procede from here?

[Nicole]

No Korean War has a huge effect on the build up to the Cold War... Though what it is, I'm not sure... perhaps a less elevated Cold War?

[Wendell]

I setiously don't think that the Sovietys will refrain from takibng this Korea into their sphere.

[Fabilius]

Originally Posted by Wendell

I setiously don't think that the Sovietys will refrain from takibng this Korea into their sphere.

If we could give them something else to think about they might busy themselves not in Korea...

[Wendell]

Originally Posted by Fabilius

If we could give them something else to think about they might busy themselves not in Korea...

Like what? An earlier POD whereby the Allies take Berlin instead of the Soviets?

[DuQuense]

The US should have reconized the Provinial Government in Shanghia, and demanded that they be given the whole Country. The PG had been fighting for Koreas independence for 40 years, ever since the Jap forced the Annexation in 1906.

One of the main problems fost WW2 was the US made no Plans about Korea. The US didn't even send People till a month after the Japs in Korea had surrendered.

[raharris1973]

Wendell -

America could pursue the option it pursued in OTL Iran in 1946 to keep the Russians out. # 1 Have the recognized Korean government demand the Russians stay-out/get-out, # 2 Use naval posturing and atomic bluster to intimidate the Russians. This is how the US reacted when the Soviets were pressing Turkey for territorial concessions and overstaying in Iran 1946.

The Russians have some interesting choices. They can try to occupy the whole or part of the country, but that's very risky. They will have to balance consideration for the political competitiveness of the Korean far left, which would be damaged by a Soviet occupation that Korean noncommunists would resolutely and forthrightly oppose, against the military and administrative help they could provide the Korean far left by providing a conducive occupation regime. Stalin might get greedy, but he also might figure that he can strengthen the left and long-term influence by not being too ham-handed, figuring the Americans would get bored or distracted. If Stalin is patient, he might find some foreign policy common ground with even a conservative version of Korea by the 1947 timeframe, as both would object to American sponsorship of a revived Japan.

DuQuesne - Good point on the option of using the Korean government in exile, instead of the Japanese-installed regime.

I didn't consider that option, of simply accepting the claims of the
Korean government exile to the whole country. Politically, the plus
side for them is they're long-established nationalist "keepers of the
flame". The drawback compared to the Japanese-installed government is
they don't have a military force. I really don't know if the threat of
the far left could cause these two groups to unite.

True that the US basically had no plans for Korea, except that made at the Cairo Conference of 1943, that it would be taken away from Japan.

Alt-Korea will not be a happy, shiny place, even if its better-off than OTL. The question
about civil war though, with either PoD (A) Japanese-installed
government or (B) exiled government, is who wins the civil war. Kim
had a guerrila force of some sort, but I don't know its strength and
reach nationwide. There will be a Soviet border, and Soviet forces
adjacent to Korea in Manchuria for at least a bit. On the other hand,
for a time that border region could end up in Chinese nationalist
hands, as in OTL. Lack of a stable, secure, communist North Korea may
slow down the communist party victory in China a bit, as they used
North Korea as a sanctuary and used some Korean troops during their
civil war against Chiang Kai-shek.


One thing I think is that eventual partition would be highly unlikely -
somebody will end up with the whole enchilada, and the war will be
decided by local fighting men with outside supplies, but not the level
of armed intervention we saw in OTL's Korean war.

[The Abyss]

i think that if the Soviets were distracted with the US or Europe enough they would put Korea aside and focus on thier problems with those issues.

[Max Sinister]

Some people thought about using nukes in the Korea War, but didn't in the end, because the fallout would've afflicted Japan too.