Questions regarding South Korea's development.

Hi to everyone.

I started this thread as I'm quite curious about South Korea.
I have a project in mind but I want to totally understand the country before starting.

1. How was Syngman Rhee as president?
I've seen that his regime was quite corrupt, authoritarian and that he got along japanese and former collaborators.
But I'd like to learn more about it.

2. How did Park Chung-hee reformed the economy?
He is the main reason for Korea's current success and I really want to know why, what he did specifically?
What kind of actions did he take to get his goal?

3. Would Korea have a better time if Park Chung-hee hadn't been killed in 1979?

Now two questions in What If...-style.

A) If Korea was united by USA after the Korean War (Please don't discuss if China or the Soviet Union would intervene, let's just assume it happened) how would their economy develop?
Would Syngman Rhee reverse the North Korean land reform? Would he keep it? What about the state industries? Would they stay in that way?

B) Syngman Rhee would surely get some popularity for uniting the peninsula but let's remember he was a bloody tyrant, would he stay in power more than OTL? Would he stay a shorter time?

And the last one (Apologies for the several questions)

I.- How defensible is the Korea-China border?
Does the terrain favours the defenders? Please give input on how could Korea give a tough time to invading chinese troops.

Thanks!
 
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B) Syngman Rhee would surely get some popularity for uniting the peninsula but let's remember he was a bloody tyrant, would he stay in power more than OTL? Would he stay a shorter time?

...!

He might have less of a reputation as a bloody tyrant if reunification goes smoother. Part of the bloody tyrant thing derived from suppression of Communist insurgents in S Korea. When the NKPA army was broken in September 1950 considerable numbers were trapped in the south. Those dispersed into the rural population and party cadres who had accompanied them south organized a not trivial 'peoples war'. At some point Generals Ridgeway or VanFleet felt it necessary to redeploy US Marine & Army divisions south to assists ROK forces, who were not making progress against the guerrillas.
 
He might have less of a reputation as a bloody tyrant if reunification goes smoother. Part of the bloody tyrant thing derived from suppression of Communist insurgents in S Korea. When the NKPA army was broken in September 1950 considerable numbers were trapped in the south. Those dispersed into the rural population and party cadres who had accompanied them south organized a not trivial 'peoples war'. At some point Generals Ridgeway or VanFleet felt it necessary to redeploy US Marine & Army divisions south to assists ROK forces, who were not making progress against the guerrillas.
Oh I see, so, after the advance there were several guerrillas behind lines right?

Interesting, so only with American support could they beat them right?
 
“Several” is an understatement. I’m not sure how long it would’ve taken the ROK to beat them, given that there was a full blown war going on further north, but from ‘48 to ‘50 the South did successfully put down a communist insurgency.
 
I've not found many details about the Communist insurgency in S Korea in the English language literature. Fehrenbach 'This Kind of War' describes how the main PoW camp run by the US Army managed to revolt, chase out the MP group compromising the guards, and kill the camp commandant along the way. A reinforced regiment of airborne was sent to retake control of the NKPA/Chinese PoW. Fehrenbach has a few paragraphs about other action against the Communist insurgency 1950-1952 that leave me with the impression it was not entirely settled when the Armistice came. Some of the USMC Korean war veterans I met remarked about spending their time in Korea on LoC security south of the battle zone in 1951-52.

“Several” is an understatement. I’m not sure how long it would’ve taken the ROK to beat them, given that there was a full blown war going on further north, ...

The insurgency seems to have dragged on past the Armistice. NKPA commando raids in the 1960s don't seem to have had support from insurgents, but my sources on this are thin.
 
He might have less of a reputation as a bloody tyrant if reunification goes smoother. Part of the bloody tyrant thing derived from suppression of Communist insurgents in S Korea. When the NKPA army was broken in September 1950 considerable numbers were trapped in the south. Those dispersed into the rural population and party cadres who had accompanied them south organized a not trivial 'peoples war'. At some point Generals Ridgeway or VanFleet felt it necessary to redeploy US Marine & Army divisions south to assists ROK forces, who were not making progress against the guerrillas.

It wasn't just NKPA soldiers - South Korea had a strong Communist movement (maybe stronger than the North) though I think the movement had been pretty damaged by the Korean War, so it's not like the NKPA soldiers were dispersing into a hostile countryside with no local allies. Also, Syngman Rhee was already fairly bloody and tyrannical before 1950 and if Korea were reunified under him, well, there were plenty more communists to massacre in North Korea after he'd finished with the South Korean party.

So while people might, as OTL, lionize him as a bloody but necessary man on whose work a brighter future could be built, given his character and the situation in Korea it seems like it would be difficult for him to avoid a reputation as a bloody tyrant.

fasquardon
 
Thanks for the replies!
Quite interesting, I knew about the communist insurgencies in South Korea before the War, but I didn't know about more of them during the war and done by KPA guerrillas along the local sympathizers.

Quite impressive.
So Syngman Rhee would begin a huge purge of communists, what about the land reform?
It was "bigger" in the North than the South, would he revert it? Try to get help of the landowners and collaborators that left the north in previous years?
 
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