Transcript From one Korea to Two Koreas - ubcasia 101 The History of Asia

From one Korea
to Two Koreas
March 28, 2013
Review
• In the opinion of your professor, who was
the greatest revolutionary in modern Asian
history? Why does he say that?
• How can we explain Japan’s rapid
economic growth between 1950 and 1990?
• What has happened to the Japanese
economy since then?
• Is Japan a democracy? How did it
democratize?
Okinawa after 1945
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Conquered by the US in a bloody battle in spring, 1945
Occupied by the US until 1972 (occupation of the rest of
Japan ended in 1952). Taiwan protested the reversion to
Japan. (Some people in the PRC now claim that the
Kingdom of the Ryūkyūs was part of China!)
Still has more US military personnel than all of the rest
of Japan
Average income is 75% of the average income of
Japanese on the main islands because of discrimination
at the hands of other Japanese. (See Ebrey, 517)
Questioning Japan
• New religious movements:
Aum Shinrikyo (now
Aleph) and Happy Science (says its still living
founder is the Buddha incarnate)
• Nihonjinron--search for the the uniqueness of the
“Japanese race.” It is claimed that Japanese
have a unique language, are an homogeneous
people, and have a unique psychology and even
physiology.
(p. 518)
• Making Japan a“normal country.”
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Korea divided in two
Korea had been one country for over 1,000 years.
Even the Japanese didn’t split it. But the US and
the USSR did that in 1945
Republic of Korea (South Korea) formed in 1948,
under President Syngman Rhee
June 25, 1950, Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea (North Korea) invades the south, starting the
three-year Korean War.
Rhee overthrown in 1960. After a brief period of
democracy, General Park Chung Hee seizes power
in 1961. Under his leadership, Korea begins to
industrialize (using the Japanese model for stateled growth).
Korea Industrializes
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General, and then President, Park Chung Hee realized
South Korea needed to built up economic power to be
strong enough to resist North Korea.
He inaugurated Japanese-style state-led growth. This is
not socialism. Instead, he had his government encourage
(though its control of banks) companies to invest in
certain areas of the economy. He also encourage the
formation of large conglomerates, called Chaebŏl, and had
them compete with each other to avoid the inefficiency of
a monopoly.
He borrowed a lot from abroad but then earnings from
exports allowed those loans to be repaid.
Bloody Path to
Democracy
• 1972 Park throws out the old constitution, creates
“Koreanized democracy” that makes him president for life.
(Park may have learned about military rule from his
Japanese mentors.)
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1979 Park is assassinated by the head of his own secret
police (Korean Central Intelligence Agency).
1979-80 General Chun Doo Hwan seizes control of the
government in a coup in two parts. First, he attacks his
own army headquarters. Then, on ----May 18, 1980 Chun launches an attack on the city of
Kwangju. At least 1,000 are killed. Chun then becomes
president.
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Democracy
achieved
Popular demonstrations in Seoul in 1987 forced the
government to allow elections for president. Chun’s
comrade-in-arms wins.
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1992 Kim Young Sam, a former pro-democracy leader, joins
Chun’s party, wins the presidency, and then arrests Chun.
1997 Kim Dae-jung, a man both Park and Chun had tried to
kill, is elected president.
2008--Conservatives regain power. This is a second
peaceful transfer of power. (Park Chung Hee’s daughter won
an election for the conservatives in 2012)
How did this happen? Land reform and economic
development eroded the influence of the landed elite and
created a prosperous middle class, providing a foundation
for democracy. Developmental dictatorship dug its own
grave.
Authoritarianism
economic
growth
• Is and
authoritarianism
necessary for
rapid economic
development?
• Some say yes, because that is the only way
capital can be concentrated in areas where it is
most needed.
• Others say no, since authoritarian rulers will not be
told when they have made mistakes.
• One thing is clear: authoritarianism may work in
early economic development, but it becomes
dysfunctional when the economy grows too
complex for the government to manage.
The rise in religious affiliation
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1916 530,000 out of 15-17 million 3%
1940 1 million out of 23.5 million
4%
1965 3.5 million out of 28.2 mil.
12%
1985 17.2 million out of 41 mil.
42%
Achieving a majority religious population
1995 22.5 million out of 44.5 mil. 50.7%
2004
Gallup Poll
2005 25 million out of 47 million
53.5%
53.1%
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The other Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea:
political stability--the Kim family (Kim Il Sung, Kim
Jung Il, and now Kim Jung Eun) have ruled since
1948.
economic problems--strong recovery from the war
into the early 1970s (thanks partially to
hydroelectric plants built by the Japanese), but
since then the problems of a strictly controlled
economy and a reliance on import substitution
(because of the ideology of Chuch’e--self-reliance)
has stalled the economy. In the later 1990s, maybe
as many as 2 million people died from starvation or
malnutrition.
Comparing North
and South Korea
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South Korea is now democratic. North Korea has a
totalitarian government.
South Korea has an economic environment that
encourages competition and engagement with the rest of
the world.
North Korea has a state-controlled economy and aims to
be self-sufficient.
South Korea has a per capita GNP ($32,400) 18 times
larger than that of North Korea ($1,800).
North Korea has atomic bombs. South Korea doesn’t.
The economies of
the ROK and the DPRK
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South Korea (ROK)
Export-oriented economy
13th largest in the world
just ahead of Canada
$32,400 per capita GDP
between the EU and Israel.
North Korea (DPRK)
import-substitution economy
$1,800 per capita GDP --ahead of Burma, behind Bangladesh.