Your+World+Final+Project+2009+B+Soojin+K.

 Why is Korean peninsula still divided? (We want Korea to be re-unified!)


 * Introduction:** There were a few divided nations in the world such as Germany, Vietnam, and U.S., due to WWII and some domestic issues but soon they were re-unified again. There is one nation, however, which has still not been re-unified again since 1950. It was not Korea's choice to be a divided nation. Korea was too weak to resist international forces coming in. After the Russo-Japanese war, Korea became a protectorate of Japan and was soon annexed by Japan. After WWII, in Nov 1943, the three big allied powers came up to the conclusion that Japan should release all its conquered lands. Korea was mentioned first, but no one realized that this led to continuous division of Korea.

(page 120, Breen, Michael. "The Koreans: Who they are, What they want, Where their future lies." __Thomas Dunne Books__, 2004. Print.)

//So, these are the problems we are going to discuss in this issue:// > **
 * ** How did the division of Korea take place? **
 * ** How did the Korean War happen? **
 * ** How did the meeting between North and the South progress after signing the armistice treaty? **
 * ** How is the current relationship between North and the South?
 * ** What can each side of Korea do to re-unify Korean Peninsula? **
 * ** Why do we have to be re-unified? **
 * ** What are the problems following after if we unify? **
 * ** Why is this a WORLD issue? **

(Cairo Conference - "mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea (we) are determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent") - During Cairo Conference in 1943

(pg 125, Breen, Michael. "The Koreans: Who they are, What they want, Where their future lies." __Thomas Dunne Books__, 2004. Print.)


 * The beginning:** why was Korea first divided?: Korea's fate was not decided until the end of WWII in 1945. In August 15, 1945, Korea was released by Japan. According to the Cairo conference's declaration, Korean independence was promised after it goes through some process of orientating its confusion. Then United States and Soviet Union came to Korea to support. Were they the liberation armies or the occupation armies? Before they came to Korea, Soviet Union leaders invaded Manchuria, as Joseph Stalin's agreement with Harry Truman from United States. However, U.S leaders were worried that they might occupy the whole peninsula and this would lead to a Soviet occupation of Japan. And the Soviet Union forces arrived in Korea before U.S came, however, they only occupied the northern part of peninsula, keeping the agreement between two nations. Soon, U.S made two officials to create American occupation zone, however, these two men are unprepared so they divided up the country into half approximately looking at National Geographic map. The United States' southern region included Korea's capital Seoul. Soviet Union and United States agreed about taking each side of Korea; also, they decided not to care about each other.

//However, but the problem was that each side of Korea favored rival figures, among the returning exiles of the independence movement. From 1945 to 1948 there were various efforts made at unity, such as a proposed five-year U.S-Soviet trusteeship which was rejected by Koreans, and elections sponsored by the newly formed United Nations which were rejected by the communist North.//




 * Pro-American Republic of Korea in the SOUTH:** After the occupation agreement between U.S and Soviet Union, American military did not pay much attention to Korean and the soldiers didn't want to be assigned in Korea. At the beginning, south Korea was an economic shambles. bungled policies had led to spiraling inflation, food shortages, and almost to economic collapse. The new republic in the South was not created amid celebration and expectation. Later what was called "Provisional Government was established. Syngman Rhee, an anti-communist who came back to Korea after his exile in U.S, was chosen as a leader of provisional government since he was friendly to U.S. He lacked the vision of economical growth and around 70% of industry was built up by the Japanese.


 * Pro-Soviet Democratic People's Republic of Korea**: After Soviet Union occupied the northern region of Korea, they established the Soviet Civil Authority to rule the North. The leader of North, Kim Il-Sung formed a provisional government just like Syngman Rhee in the North. It was named "North Korean Provisional People's Committee." He started what was called a "sweeping-land reform program", which organized the poor civilians and agricultural labors. Some important changes in industries were made. The north's economic situation was as difficult as it was in the south. North focused on industrial issues while south concentrated in agriculture. North's plan was much more successful in those in the South at the end of 1940s.

(page 51, Kim, Young Myung. "Korean History 62". __Wisdom House__, 2008. Print.)

__ The 6.25 Korean War __

media type="youtube" key="yYOph8_f7mA" height="271" width="331" (movie source: "Korean War(Incheon) 4/15". __Youtube.__ )

(the movie clip is about the one of the most famous battles, led by the general MacArthur, the Battle of Incheon)

After each of government was established in both North and South, the conflicts rose. The North had detail, prepared plans to invade the South. The North government leaders consulted with Soviet Union's Stalin and China's Mo-Taek-Dong. Both China and Soviet agreed to help the North by supporting military equipment and soldiers. When the North invaded the South, the provisional government had no plans to attack back, but the South could attack back by the general MacArthur. The war lasted for 3 years and finally in July 27 1953, representatives of North Korea, China, and UN(U.S) signed negotiation treaty for the armistice. South Korea refused to be represented because they couldn't accept armistice.

Even a half a century later, the governments on both sides keep their people under strict controls and prevent any kind of exchange. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, no people, letters, trucks, trains or goods of any kind have crossed the 4km demilitarized border zone DMZ that separates the two armies, except for one or two brief political gestures. Only commandos, defectors, propaganda broadcasts, directly by sea.

("Korean War." __MSNEncarta__ Web.31 May 2009. .)




 * Meetings between North and the South**: Korean peninsula was influenced by the unification of Germany in 1990. Koreans have decided that they cannot continue doing nothing about unification as Korea was now the only nation who is separated into half. Beginning in 1990, South and North Korea begin to settle official conference to promote reconciliation.


 * < Time and date ||< What happened in each conference? How did it progress? ||
 * < 1990.9 ||< 1st conference held ||
 * < 1991.12.3 ||< 5th conference held in Seoul, both North and South agreed to a mutual contract with nonagression ||
 * < 1991.12.31 ||< the declaration of denuclearization in Korean peninsula ||
 * < 1992. 2.19 ||< 6th conference held in PyeongYang, they exchange a written agreement of nonagression treaty ||
 * < 1992. 9 ||< 8th conference North and South selected 3 more written agreements ||
 * < 1993 ||< However, this whole conference becomes useless due to North's withdrawal from NPT ||
 * < 1998 ||< the first meeting of separated families accomplished ||


 * The first Summit-level conference:** June 2000, president Kim-Dae-Jung visited Pyeong Yang and executed a North & South summit-level conference. It was historical and meaningful itself because this was the first time that two Koreas held a summit-level conference, also it resolved all the conflicts had turned into reconciliation and cooperation. The conference was mainly about the unification, maintaining peace, people's union, and interaction between two Koreas. This conference was considered as one of the most significant events about unification because it was the first time that the two supreme leaders of each sides signed the treaty.



//the first two pictures are from the conference held in 2000. Later in 2007, president Noh-Mu-Hyun and Kim-Jung-Il met and had another conference, which progressed successfully too!//

(pg 179, Korea Modern History Publication Committee. "All About Korean Modern History". __GoldenEgg__, 2008. Print.)

**Current relationship between North and the South: What efforts are made to promote reconciliation?**

Recently, the South provides the North with aid and economic support, by sending food such as rice and cows. The two governments cooperate in organizing separated family and tourism of North Korea. These days, it has been an issue that the two Koreas have accepted an unofficial re-unification flag, which represents Korea at international sporting events. (Also, two Koreas had World Cup preliminary match...South beat North by 2:0)

**Why do we have to be unified?**
 3. **Nationalism - all of us come from one nation:** It's sad that we all come from one nation and our country is still divided into half. Even though there are lots of government meetings settled to promote reconciliation, there are limited possibilities that we can be unified. These days, both North and South people try to unify unofficially during international sports event. Both North and South people sat together and held same flag.
 * 1) [[image:30_2050831n2523.00.jpg width="144" height="180" align="right"]]**There are many families who are separated by Korean War, in different sides of Korea:** When Korean War took place, many Koreans had to find shelter and evacuate to other regions. Also, some family members were chosen as soldiers in different sides of Korea. In that process, many families had to separate and there are many families still in different sides of Korea. So Korean governments settled appointments to make the families meet, now this has been 11th meeting.
 * 2) **North's problems: economic hardship in North lead many people to come to South illegally through China mostly:** Most people in North suffer from economic hardship. They choose to come into South illegally to earn living, and mostly it is through China. If they are caught by government on the way, they are sent back to North and to jail, but once they are in South Korea, North government can't stop them anymore. This is the picture of the social welfare facilities to help those who come from North. To prevent these problems happening, we have to unify and support those North people who need help.[[image:htm_2008042915553830003010-001.JPG width="216" height="169" align="left"]]

4. **North's nuclear bomb problems:** Recently, North has been developing its nuclear bombs, the whole world is afraid if North is going to bomb these soon. There are lots meetings held to discuss these issues with North, but North has refused to stop testing their nuclear bombs.


 * What are the problems following after the unification?**

1.Since Korea has been separated for approximately more than 50 years, there is a huge gap in culture, custom, and language: There is a huge difference in language in two Koreas. The acceptance of foreign cultures affected South to modernize and westernize while North is not. South borrow a lot of words of foreign origin because south accept foreign cultures. However, north has only a few words from foreign origin. They change most of foreign words into their own words. Also, there are lots of culture difference, especially, education. For instance, during most of north people's school lives, they learn how great their leader Kil Il Sung and his son Kim Jung Il are. (the first two pictures are city named Kae Sung (개성) in North Korea and the third picture: city of Myung Dong in South Korea) 2.The wealth gap between South and North: As everyone knows, the economic situation in South is better than the North, and we aid and support them with food and money. If we unify, there will be a wealth gap between South Korean people and North Korean people. To solve this problem, there is the only one way that we help them a lot.

3. **Republic vs. Democracy:** this has been a very important issue because choosing one leader and one government system for unified Korea could lead to conflict between North and the South. Obviously neither sides will give up their authority to rule and that was one of major reasons why Korea is still not unified. To resolve these conflicts, both Koreas will have to discuss and cooperate, and decide which government system they will accept. One big difference between South and Korea's government system is that the highest leader in government is president in South and North has the national chairman which holds an absolute authority.

(Schuman, Michael. "Reunification." __TIME__ 25 Aug 2003 Web.31 May 2009. )


 * Why is this a WORLD issue?**
 * These days North's nuclear bomb tests have been an issue throughout the world
 * If South and North do not resolve their conflicts, they will result in war. If war takes place, the major powers in the world would be involved:


 * Conclusion**

To directly answer my question, Korea was divided due to international reasons, by the occupation of U.S and Soviet Union, taking each side of Korea. But also Korea is also responsible for the division because neither North nor South gave up their power. Furthermore, I wanted to talk about Korean reunification, why we have to be unified and the problems we are facing if we unify. It is disgraceful that Korea is the only divided nation throughout the whole world. Before 1990, there were no interaction made between two Koreas. They kept their people under strict controls and prevented any kind of exchange. But since the summit-level conference in 2000 which discussed unification, maintaining peace, people's union, and interaction between two Koreas, the relationship between two Koreas had been advanced a lot. However, there are other more important questions to consider after the unification. There are a lot of changes made in both North and South in last 50 years after the division. There will be a huge gap in culture,custom, and language. Also there are possibilities that choosing government system will lead to serious conflict between two Koreas. These problems will lead to many difficulties after the unification but we still can handle this as we are one ethnic group. We have to listen to each others' opinions and cooperate as we don't want other international forces to take part in "our" problems anymore like in 1940s.

Bibliography


 * Books**

a. Kang, Chol Hwan, and Pierre Rigoulot. "The Aquariums of PyongYang". __BasicBooks,__ 2001. Print. b. Breen, Michael. "The Koreans: Who they are, What they want, Where their future lies." __Thomas Dunne Books__, 2004. Print. c. Kim, Young Myung. "Korean History 62". __Wisdom House__, 2008. Print. d. Korea Modern History Publication Committee. "All About Korean Modern History". __GoldenEgg__, 2008. Print.


 * Internet Sources**

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 * Citation for movie**

a. "Korean War(Incheon) 4/15". __Youtube.__ <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYOph8_f7mA>