WI: China completely takes Korea during the war

Jonjo

Banned
What if the combined armies of the USSR, PRC and North Korea completely take over all of Korea and install a completely communist government that lasts to this day as OTRL North Korea has?
 
What if the combined armies of the USSR, PRC and North Korea completely take over all of Korea and install a completely communist government that lasts to this day as OTRL North Korea has?
If the Soviet and Chinese armies pull out after victory, then maybe it will last.
But if they stay, I expect a lot of turmoil and armed resistence. Korea just got out from under Japanese colonization. They aren't going to just roll over and accept what they see as Chinese or Russian colonization.
 
If the entire peninsula remained under continuous communist leadership from 1945 onwards, maybe the DPRK wouldn't spend a hefty chunk of its GDP on defense budgets. There would be no threats on their borders (Japan is a bit of a stretch), and without any Korean War scenario taking place, much of the industrial infrastructure left behind by the withdrawing Japanese colonial regime would've remained intact and contributed to a post-WWII economic recovery. While economic mismanagement by the communists might lead to an earlier plateau in standards of living, it's likely that the average standard of living would be a bit higher than IOTL's divided Korean Peninsula.
 
Imuch of the industrial infrastructure left behind by the withdrawing Japanese colonial regime would've remained intact and contributed to a post-WWII economic recovery.
Unless the Soviets or Chinese pack down the factories and take them with as "payment" for their help... :(
 
Why didn't the Soviets take all the factories IOTL? I know they dismantled some of the ones in liberated Manchuria, but how come we don't hear a lot about their removal of North Korean industry?
 

RousseauX

Donor
What if the combined armies of the USSR, PRC and North Korea completely take over all of Korea and install a completely communist government that lasts to this day as OTRL North Korea has?
Well, WWIII for one since you would have the Soviets fighting the Americans directly.
 
Why didn't the Soviets take all the factories IOTL? I know they dismantled some of the ones in liberated Manchuria, but how come we don't hear a lot about their removal of North Korean industry?
That's something I'm really curious about, too. Honestly, I have no idea.
As you say, they weren't at all shy about stripping all of the Japanese-built industry out of Manchuria, and there was a lot there. The Soviets did take some industry from North Korea, but comparatively little.

So why didn't they do the same thing in North Korea? If I had to guess, maybe they thought a relatively industrialized North Korea would be a more useful counterweight to China? Stalin never really trusted Mao...
What if the combined armies of the USSR, PRC and North Korea completely take over all of Korea and install a completely communist government that lasts to this day as OTRL North Korea has?
One other thing I thought of:

If all of Korea is a Stalinist US state, I imagine the US policy will follow the Rusk Note.
 
When does this happen? During the Korean War? If so, what year? There are some knockoffs on US domestic politics depending on when this happens. Pre '52 and you might get different Republican candidate prevailing (President Taft? President MacArthur!! :eek:) . After (how??) and the presidency of Eisenhower is going to play out just a little bit differently than it did OTL. ;)
 
What if the combined armies of the USSR, PRC and North Korea completely take over all of Korea and install a completely communist government that lasts to this day as OTRL North Korea has?

Even Jeju-do Island? Highly unlikely, possibly along with Ulleundgdo, if the South Koreans have any help at all from the UN/US. True, there was a nasty, brutal, and terrible civil war/uprising still simmering with the island natives, but pretty well over and done with by that POD of 1950 (presumed).

If the South Korean mainland was lost, the plan was for the US to transport all remaining persons to "an island in the Pacific", which I guess to be Jeju Island.

Were that not possible, then Guam, Rennel, Christmas Island (Pacific, not Indian Ocean) or some other rock.

History can be incredibly consistent. Expect a more self reliant and bellicose communist Korea. At about three times the population, it has more reserves. Also, the US would be less likely to be interested, so not willing to fork over dough for non existant nuke concessions.
 

Cyan

Banned
If the the Korean peninsula is unified in 1950's they would probably be roughly similar to modern day Vietnam.

Mr. Juche et al. would have been killed off in a military coup a long time ago if the west wasnt so determined to drive NK into a corner constantly. If its an unified country where the closest member of the allies is across a sea that can be suitably mined and manned with AA ships and Patriot Anti-missile launchers, no one would give a rats ass about Korea.

Its the fact that Seoul can be eliminated in 15 mins with or without nuclear weapons that has everyone worried.

Remove that risk by removing artillery sites on the hills overlooking the city, by removing the need to treat artillery strikes against civilian cities as a MAD assurance in the case of a decapitation strike and you'll see a removal of the artillery. With that in place the only logical MAD assurance would be across the sea at Japan, which would not work due to range. With that NK would face the music and admit it needs enough nukes to blow through any missile shield over Japan, which they cant produce even with a unified Juche Korea. And then its off to the Chinese camp for the Koreans.
 
Top