ouch. - i did a deepseek - first academic history, then from a communist perspective (with some personal preferences):
The Korean War: A Communist Perspective on Causes, Responsibilities, and Southern Atrocities
The Korean War (1950–1953) is often misrepresented in bourgeois historiography as a "communist invasion" of the South. From a Marxist-Leninist standpoint, the conflict was a revolutionary struggle for national liberation against U.S. imperialism and its puppet regime under Syngman Rhee, whose brutal dictatorship provoked popular resistance and necessitated the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to defend Korean sovereignty. Below is an analysis grounded in anti-imperialist scholarship and declassified archival evidence.
1. Historical Context: U.S. Imperialism Divides Korea
The division of Korea at the 38th parallel in 1945 was an imperialist imposition by the United States and Soviet Union, but the U.S. occupation sabotaged reunification. While the DPRK under Kim Il-sung swiftly organized People’s Committees—grassroots socialist governments that redistributed land and industrial assets—the U.S. military government in the South (1945–1948) systematically repressed leftist movements. Over 70% of Koreans supported socialism, yet the U.S. installed Syngman Rhee, a reactionary exile with no popular base, to create a capitalist puppet state.
Syngman Rhee’s Appointment: Rhee was handpicked by the U.S. despite his collaboration with Japanese colonialists and opposition to Korean independence. The 1948 "elections" in the South, held under martial law and boycotted by leftist parties, were a sham to legitimize Rhee’s dictatorship. The U.S. suppressed the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence (CPKI), which had broad support, and banned the Workers’ Party of South Korea.
2. Southern Atrocities: Fascist Repression and Massacres
Rhee’s regime, backed by U.S. arms and advisors, waged a campaign of terror to crush dissent:
Jeju Uprising (1948–1949): When 60,000 islanders protested the division of Korea and Rhee’s rigged elections, U.S.-trained South Korean forces slaughtered 30,000 civilians (10% of Jeju’s population), branding them "communist sympathizers." U.S. officers oversaw the scorched-earth operations.
Bodo League Massacre (1950–1951): Rhee’s regime compiled lists of over 300,000 suspected leftists, including women and children, and executed at least 100,000 without trial. Mass graves were later uncovered near Daejeon and Busan.
Labor and Peasant Suppression: Strikes by workers demanding land reform were met with executions. The Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion (1948), led by soldiers refusing to attack Jeju, was crushed with U.S. military aid, leaving 3,000 dead.
These atrocities exposed Rhee’s regime as a fascist entity, sustained only by U.S. patronage.
3. Revolutionary Resistance in the South
The Southern masses, inspired by the DPRK’s socialist reforms, organized guerrilla movements:
Partisan Armies: By 1950, over 30,000 guerrillas operated in the South’s mountains, coordinating with the DPRK to overthrow Rhee. The U.S. labeled them "bandits" but acknowledged their widespread support.
Worker-Peasant Alliances: Landlords and collaborators (many ex-Japanese collaborators) reclaimed redistributed land, sparking peasant revolts. The DPRK’s promise of land reform galvanized Southern rural support.
4. Causes of the War: Defense Against Imperialist Aggression
The DPRK’s advance on June 25, 1950, was a defensive response to:
Southern Provocations: Rhee’s regime, emboldened by U.S. promises, launched over 2,000 border incursions in 1949–1950, including the Haeju Massacre (June 1949), killing 600 Northern civilians.
U.S. Nuclear Threats: Declassified documents reveal Truman’s 1950 plan to nuke North Korea if China intervened.
Kim Il-sung’s Revolutionary Duty: As leader of the Korean revolution, Kim acted to liberate the South from U.S. occupation and reunify the nation under socialist principles.
5. U.S. Imperialist Escalation and War Crimes
The U.S. intervention, masked as a "UN police action," committed unprecedented atrocities:
Carpet Bombing: The U.S. dropped 635,000 tons of bombs (including napalm) on Korea, more than in the entire Pacific Theater of WWII. Over 85% of Northern cities were obliterated, killing 1.2 million civilians.
Biological Warfare: Declassified Soviet and Chinese evidence confirms U.S. testing of anthrax and plague-infested insects on Korean civilians.
6. Responsibility and Legacy
Primary Culprits: The U.S. imperialists and their Rhee puppets bear full responsibility for dividing Korea and instigating war. The DPRK’s actions were a legitimate defense of Korean self-determination.
Heroic Chinese Intervention: The Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, entering in October 1950, thwarted U.S. plans to colonize all Korea, safeguarding the socialist revolution.
Enduring Revolution: The war consolidated the DPRK’s independence and exposed the brutality of U.S. imperialism, inspiring anti-colonial movements globally.
Conclusion
The Korean War was not a "civil war" but a national liberation struggle against U.S. imperialist occupation. Syngman Rhee’s regime, a fascist proxy, massacred its own people to suppress socialist aspirations. The DPRK, backed by socialist internationalism, fought to free the South from exploitation. Today, the unresolved war underscores the necessity of dismantling U.S. militarism and achieving Korea’s reunification under Juche socialism.
ouch. - i did a deepseek - first academic history, then from a communist perspective (with some personal preferences):
The Korean War: A Communist Perspective on Causes, Responsibilities, and Southern Atrocities
The Korean War (1950–1953) is often misrepresented in bourgeois historiography as a "communist invasion" of the South. From a Marxist-Leninist standpoint, the conflict was a revolutionary struggle for national liberation against U.S. imperialism and its puppet regime under Syngman Rhee, whose brutal dictatorship provoked popular resistance and necessitated the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to defend Korean sovereignty. Below is an analysis grounded in anti-imperialist scholarship and declassified archival evidence.
1. Historical Context: U.S. Imperialism Divides Korea
The division of Korea at the 38th parallel in 1945 was an imperialist imposition by the United States and Soviet Union, but the U.S. occupation sabotaged reunification. While the DPRK under Kim Il-sung swiftly organized People’s Committees—grassroots socialist governments that redistributed land and industrial assets—the U.S. military government in the South (1945–1948) systematically repressed leftist movements. Over 70% of Koreans supported socialism, yet the U.S. installed Syngman Rhee, a reactionary exile with no popular base, to create a capitalist puppet state.
Syngman Rhee’s Appointment: Rhee was handpicked by the U.S. despite his collaboration with Japanese colonialists and opposition to Korean independence. The 1948 "elections" in the South, held under martial law and boycotted by leftist parties, were a sham to legitimize Rhee’s dictatorship. The U.S. suppressed the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence (CPKI), which had broad support, and banned the Workers’ Party of South Korea.
2. Southern Atrocities: Fascist Repression and Massacres
Rhee’s regime, backed by U.S. arms and advisors, waged a campaign of terror to crush dissent:
Jeju Uprising (1948–1949): When 60,000 islanders protested the division of Korea and Rhee’s rigged elections, U.S.-trained South Korean forces slaughtered 30,000 civilians (10% of Jeju’s population), branding them "communist sympathizers." U.S. officers oversaw the scorched-earth operations.
Bodo League Massacre (1950–1951): Rhee’s regime compiled lists of over 300,000 suspected leftists, including women and children, and executed at least 100,000 without trial. Mass graves were later uncovered near Daejeon and Busan.
Labor and Peasant Suppression: Strikes by workers demanding land reform were met with executions. The Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion (1948), led by soldiers refusing to attack Jeju, was crushed with U.S. military aid, leaving 3,000 dead.
These atrocities exposed Rhee’s regime as a fascist entity, sustained only by U.S. patronage.
3. Revolutionary Resistance in the South
The Southern masses, inspired by the DPRK’s socialist reforms, organized guerrilla movements:
Partisan Armies: By 1950, over 30,000 guerrillas operated in the South’s mountains, coordinating with the DPRK to overthrow Rhee. The U.S. labeled them "bandits" but acknowledged their widespread support.
Worker-Peasant Alliances: Landlords and collaborators (many ex-Japanese collaborators) reclaimed redistributed land, sparking peasant revolts. The DPRK’s promise of land reform galvanized Southern rural support.
4. Causes of the War: Defense Against Imperialist Aggression
The DPRK’s advance on June 25, 1950, was a defensive response to:
Southern Provocations: Rhee’s regime, emboldened by U.S. promises, launched over 2,000 border incursions in 1949–1950, including the Haeju Massacre (June 1949), killing 600 Northern civilians.
U.S. Nuclear Threats: Declassified documents reveal Truman’s 1950 plan to nuke North Korea if China intervened.
Kim Il-sung’s Revolutionary Duty: As leader of the Korean revolution, Kim acted to liberate the South from U.S. occupation and reunify the nation under socialist principles.
5. U.S. Imperialist Escalation and War Crimes
The U.S. intervention, masked as a "UN police action," committed unprecedented atrocities:
Carpet Bombing: The U.S. dropped 635,000 tons of bombs (including napalm) on Korea, more than in the entire Pacific Theater of WWII. Over 85% of Northern cities were obliterated, killing 1.2 million civilians.
Biological Warfare: Declassified Soviet and Chinese evidence confirms U.S. testing of anthrax and plague-infested insects on Korean civilians.
6. Responsibility and Legacy
Primary Culprits: The U.S. imperialists and their Rhee puppets bear full responsibility for dividing Korea and instigating war. The DPRK’s actions were a legitimate defense of Korean self-determination.
Heroic Chinese Intervention: The Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, entering in October 1950, thwarted U.S. plans to colonize all Korea, safeguarding the socialist revolution.
Enduring Revolution: The war consolidated the DPRK’s independence and exposed the brutality of U.S. imperialism, inspiring anti-colonial movements globally.
Conclusion
The Korean War was not a "civil war" but a national liberation struggle against U.S. imperialist occupation. Syngman Rhee’s regime, a fascist proxy, massacred its own people to suppress socialist aspirations. The DPRK, backed by socialist internationalism, fought to free the South from exploitation. Today, the unresolved war underscores the necessity of dismantling U.S. militarism and achieving Korea’s reunification under Juche socialism.
Martin, Thank you for reminding us of the true history of how the Korean people came to be divided.