Korea undivided

The division of Korea was quite devastating for the country in many ways. For instance, much of the industry and power supply was in the north, while most of the agricultural production was in the south. The two parts of the country were heavily interdependent. So, let us assume that all of the country had come under U.S. military occupation. Would this have meant that a united Korea would have been richer by 2016 than it is in OTL? And what would have been the result in short term? Would Syngman Rhee still have been able to come to power?
 

Deleted member 1487

Assuming it was, would the US have put so much effort into building up the nation's economy and make so many lopsided trade deals to prop it up? Sure they'd likely have long term US bases due to China, but remember the South was more poor than the North until about the 1980s. Likely the economy overall would have not turned into a basket case when the USSR fell, as the North had pretty much become dependent on that trade, while the minerals would likely have been exploited by US companies working with Korean ones. Its hard to say what Korea would have turned into without the division and war, but it would have had a US backed dictatorship and no economic dislocation caused by the split; I tend to think the US wouldn't assume they needed to invest as much and would let them sink or swim in the market beyond the minimum to keep their favored dictatorship in power.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_South_Korea#Overview
 
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