Surprisingly, south Korea was poorer than the north for a couple of decades and it was the Vietnam War that helped to boost south Korea's economy drastically, rather like how the Korean war was also a boon for post-war Japan.
america pumped South Korea full of money LOL, thats how it gave a super boom to their economy, look it up there is even a South Korean documentary about how RoK economy artificially was boosted. North Korea still has a larger heavy industry though, much larger, almost twice the size despite having a population only half of that of the South, they even got semi conductors although at least two decades behind the South in technology when it comes to computers.
Actually .. USA defended North Korea by staying out of North Korea .. duh... Invaded South Korea for North Korea.. Red white and blue are family . United States around the world . Lieing to people of independence .. Once was the allied forces. Now is the all lied forces.
To SK's credit, the junta didn't _just_ cash the Vietnam War check and keep doing their currupt dictatorship business at the expense of American tax payers, like Rhee did. Gen Park used parts of his dirty money to promote mass education and industrialization, which set the stage for future growth, hence his more nuanced legacy. (Don't worry though, they still kept a good chunk in their pockets.)
South Korea has had such a turbulent up and down political history. Republics mixed with several dictatorships, a president impeached a few years ago, and through all that going from a poor country to an economic power.
Yet many polititards in South Korea (Kim Dae Jung, Kim Young Sam, & Roh-the-whatever who committed suicide over a US$6,000ks corruption charge) dreamt of making South Korea like North Korea by pouring uncounted US$1,000ks of their citizens' taxpayer-money into the pockets of the kim-die-nasties in the North. Remember Kim Dae Jung's "Sunshine Policy", continued under Kim Young Sam & Roh-the-whatever, toward the kim-die-nasty's black hole ? Well the black hole swallowed the "Shining Sun".
yah cause the ROK actually fought hard for and loved their country and had much more better leadership than South Vietnam. Also the South Korean dictator Park Chung Hee, is a tough very wise and progressive man. He is the reason why South Korea is one of the richest countries in the world. You can see this by his demeanor like the time when someone tried to assasinate him and ended up killing the wife in front of him, while the wife was being carried away dead, he just kept on giving his speech and did not stop, holy fuck , that is the epitome of TOUGH.
Some aspects of the South Korean society did crumble down. Most noticeably the much quicker abandonment of traditional culture that made the westernization of the Republican China era (represented by Lǔ Xùn) look like amateurs.
@@user-cx1ki8li4t well if only South Vietnam had a backbone instead of relying on US soldiers fighting and dying for their freedom for a decade. How much goodwill do you expect any country to have when its not reciprocated?
I think a difference is that the wars were fought completely differently. The North Korean army and infrastructure was almost annihilated by the UN forces, with only China pushing them back, later coming to a ceasefire, leaving an intact ROK army. Meanwhile, north Vietnam could infiltrate the south indefinitely and was supplied with almost unlimited resources by China and the USSR, with the US only launching ineffective search and destroy missions within south Vietnam, allowing the NVA and Viet Cong to regroup and grow in power over the years, while the south Vietnamese army was abandoned when the US withdrew troops and didn't even supply ammunition and spare parts.
The rise and fall of Park Chung Hee should be its own episode. His assassination story is crazy in itself. Korean (ROK) politics has reminded me of a national version of Illinois/Chicago corruption. Prominent leaders over the years have ended up investigated, charged with some crime, or ended up in prison, or… dead. As someone of Korean heritage who lived there in the early 90s, Korea has seen a massive change in a short time. I remember seeing a completely different Seoul than the one I see in photos today. Pyeongtaek was just a big city and known train hub. In the early 90s, some businesses still didn’t have running water.
@@andriypohors2538 its because after the war korea are already devide into two along 38th parralel, the norther part was under soviet union and souther part under the US. There is a talk to make korea as unified by both but unlike the austria who have the same situation as korea and german but manage to avoid devide, korea isn't. Its mainly because two thing first north korea are significantly closer and have the border with either china and soviet, second was because cold war already begun and both politican didn't want to pull back from their version of korea.
As someone who is living in Egypt I can see parallels between what my country is going through and what Korea went through. Funny how history repeats itself in different forms and curious where the future will lead us
Great content as always, Park Chung-hee deserves a standalone episode. Hope you can also do one on Cold War era Philippine dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos some day.
His story is intriguing to say the least. He was once a teacher in his age of 20, then joined Japanese army as a low-ranking officer, then joined Korean government-in-exile after the war, then became a communist in the liberated South, got busted and almost executed by the army, then joined the same army and fought against communists in the Korean War, then after Syngman Rhee was overthrown by a student revolution, he incurred a military coup and took control of the country. South Korea saw rapid economic developments and industrialization in his reign, but he also supressed thousands of his opposition by labelling them communists, joined the Vietnam War and completely abolished presidential voting system to cling onto his power forever, but got assassinated by his most trusted second-in-command during a nice dinner party. Once a communist, but now a symbol of conservatism and anti-communism in modern Korea... Irony speaks for itself.
None of this stuff was publicized in the United States at the time. We were always told that South Korea in the 1960's was a shining example of a thriving democratic state and a gallant ally in the struggle against global Communism. Will there be a episode about the early years of the Nationalist Chinese in Taiwan?
check also the massacre of communists and civilians in Indonesia. At least a million men, women and children butchered in the space of some weeks with the active cooperation of the united states.
South Korea and Taiwan were both brutal nationalist dictatorships for most of their history until just recently. South Korea began democratizing in the 1980s and Taiwan in the 1990s
This part of Korean history is somehow similar to the Philippine history during martial law. Both supported by the US to prevent the spread of communism in expense of human rights and "democracy", which the US was supposedly promoting. Fact: Both Syngman Ree and Ferdinand Marcos Sr. died in Hawaii.
The only difference is that Park Chung Hee is remembered as one of the people who helped make South Korea prosper more, while during Marcos' time, it was the Philippines' worst recession in history, with large amounts of dept and corruption.
@@Barberserk Yeah yeah ....blame the US for all the shit in your country, nevermind that had the Communist took power, you would be in far deeper shit.....and you won't even know it.
@@aegystierone8505 Just because we aren't satisfied with the military dictatorships backed by Americans doesn't mean we'd like the commies, we in ASEAN just wanted the "democratic privileges" Americans in America has and not a false one done in our region that are no different from the oppression the Communist regimes in our neighbors do
I hope you mentioned these things: 1. That the Taft-Katsura agreement in 1905 paved way for Japan to colonize Korea and was approved by the USA. Yes, America was heavily involved in bringing down an independant Korea at that time. 2. During the Cold War, South Korea also heavily persecuted Roman Catholics as they were vocal in protecting the already fragile labor unions. Hence even today in South Korea, old ladies would say "aren't Catholics spies from communist countries?". 3. Pretty much the military brasses and high-ranked bureaucrats of South Korea's 1st and 2nd republics were Manchukuo era public sevants and they also persecuted most of the Provisional Korean government officials that were active in Republican China at that time. So people often forget that South Korea today was created mainly by Koreans who supported Imperial Japan and did worship the emperor. It's arguable to say that today's South Korea is the literal last vestige of Imperial Japan, especially with the current South Korean military still retaining Japanese military traditions.
You are really overrating the Taft Katsura agreement which wasn't formal and mainly just diplomacy between the USA and Japan to not interfere in each others business. The USA was not nearly the world power in 1905.
@@guppy719 Yeah. It was mostly the European powers that had a massive sphere of influence in that region of the world at that time. The U.S. prior to the 1st World War had no or very little interest in that part of the world. Japan was a huge power in Asia with an equally powerful Navy with a rival with the Imperial Russians at that time. The U.S. stuck to the Northern Hemisphere and as usual were largely Isolationist. Prior to and after World War 1 until the 2nd World War.
@@R3dH4z3 wrong. US did have ambition in Asia Pacific back then, but US was a rising power. In 1905, US already had a leased territory in China as all other powers. US was trying to catch up with the other powers.
1. Not mentioning the reason the Southern route party(남로당) could grab such popularity is sort of a mistake. In a popular demonstration in March first celebrating the March First movement(duh) of 1919, mounted police overseeing the demonstration kicked a child and ignored his injuries. The crowd got mad and started converging and some threw rocks, which the police took as the whole crowd was against them and started shooting. 6 people died and 8 got injured, and of the six people that died 5 were shot in the back. This obvious case of police brutality was fertile ground for the commies to find supporters, and then the uprising started. Also, 30k people might sound to be small, but it was 1/8th of the population. 2. The 1952 Amendment was glossed over(probably because it happened during the war), which instituted presidential direct elections. Imo this is a very important event that should have been mentioned. 3. the 1954 Amendment went down in history because of the ridiculous way the vote was counted; 203 representative voted, and that means two thirds comes down to 135.333333.... Thus, to surpass the 2/3 threshold, there needs to be at least 136 votes in favor. However, the vote came down to 135 in favor, 7 abstained, 60 against, and 1 disqualified. Then Lee's government went with the ridiculous line that as the threshold is technically not 136 but 135.333333.... and 135.333333 is closer to 135, not 136, the math suggests the threshold is actually 135. They actually got mathematics professors from the most prestigious unis at that time to say this. Ofc, it was complete malarkey, and the charade went on. 4. The 1960 elections were one of the most fraudulent in history. Reported fraud includes, but are not limited to: Bribing voters and closing stations down so that at least 2/5 of the actual voters don't show up, then add those votes in for the government, Voting in groups of 3 and 5(Literally, as in people going into the booths at 5 at a time), using muscles(gangs) to intimidate voters and especially the opposition, Switching ballot boxes, stamping votes for the opposition so that they are disqualified. Generally a good video, wish these were included.
"4. The 1960 elections were one of the most fraudulent in history." When my grandfather's party reps were on their way to file the paperwork to run in the 1960 election, government thugs attacked them, stealing the papers. There's a grainy photo of the assault that I've seen in a couple of history books. and newspaper articles.
I need a part 2 elaborating events during and after south korea's martial law period. Last edit: please do a philippine martial law video before may 2022 elections.
Complete mystery to most Americans that the most prosperous and stable parts of east Asia were ALL products of empire -- British and Japanese in particular: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore. ....If only the most prominent product of U.S. empire -- the Philippines -- were so well off.
@@MrJm323 Philippines was a US protectorate , not a colony. and no colonialism doesn't give an excuse for development , even if it's a mystery. It's the cultural upbringing of the folks of the place and a sense of competitiveness in their society that helped them to grew what it was today. also they were lucky they got a good lists of leaders to guide them out.
@@MrJm323 Are you being intentionally provocative? As with those of WW2 Germany, the British and Japanese crimes against these regions must never be forgotten.
@@wutangmitch What was the "British crime"? Bringing civilization, science and constitutionalism to Chinese and Malays?!? You can always be assured that you are hearing from an advocate of feudalism, slavery, barbaric absolutism, and tribal savagery when you hear a person besmirching the British Empire of the 19th century. (And the "revolutionary" USA was a product of British imperialism.) The Japanese imperial project has been reduced to the actions of its fascistic militarists of the 1930s and '40s. The truth is, the Japanese dragged Korea out of the dark ages (starting years before its formal annexation in 1910) and trained up the elite which continued the development policies Japan had initiated, and which ultimately led Korea to its First World status today. Just websearching pictures of Seoul from the 1930s in contrast to the first decade of the 20th century will show you the progress. The president of South Korea most responsible for its rapid development was Park Chung-hee (military junta leader and president from 1961 to 1979) -- a product of the Japanese colonial schools system and its military academies.
@@MrJm323 Britain in the 1800’s was a nation of exploitative, syphilitic losers. While Korea had enjoyed centuries of refined culture and proud traditions, Japan was a loosely-knit band of feudal warlords wearing grass shoes up until the late 19th century. Although they love to take credit where it is undue, Britain and Japan have actually contributed nothing of substance to the world, apart from destabilization and misery. The feudalism, slavery, barbarism, and savagery that you invoked earlier were their specialties. In fact, the peculiar national character of these aggressive, backward, island nations remains on display to this day.
Once Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, things began to get much less repressive under his son. Although, Taiwan was a one party state under the KMT until Chen Shui Bian's party won in 2000s.
@JC freedom states? Explains why South Korea and South Vietnam were both under brutal dictatorships. Don't get me wrong I'm glad nk didn't win the war, but let's not pretend sk was some flourishing democracy back then either.
When you mention the democratic party started having infighting once they took power, it reminded me of so many situations throughout history. Once the common enemy is gone, all the little issues that divide people come to the forefront. Sometimes, the best thing that can happen is for there to be something really bad that you can agree on. Just like WWII brought the entire "free" world together.
Hey David! After many weeks of falling into the wonderful rabbit hole of videos, I subscribed! Got a suggestion though: I am from Colombia, and it has been fun to figure how the cold war affected my life. Well, my grandparent’s families left the countryside after fleeing violence from left and right wing groups. Then, I lived in a neighbourhood of the capital called “Kennedy city”, studied in a primary school called “John F Kennedy” and attended a public university whose main landmark is the “plaza Che Guevara”. My father was a public worker from the main television channel and benefited form an early age pension that reflects how important television was for government propaganda purposes. Anyway, one pivotal element in this personal story is the “alliance for progress” which is mainly seen in latinamerica as the “Marshall Plan” for the region. I am sure that you can do an excellent video about that. Here is a video you can watch as a teaser. Cheers David and all the team. This is a great channel. ua-cam.com/video/Ag7RXjNxF04/v-deo.html
As I have learned more about the Cold War I have come to the conclusion that IF you want to break it down into a binary (no matter how inaccurate that will be) then it would be thus: the communist world vs. the non-communist world. With this video and countless other examples as proof, I argue that non-communist was not and is not the same as democratic.
South Korea’s journey to democracy, though a bumpy ride, is a incredible story & I really hope you folks will continue to cover South Korea in your future videos.
S. Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan all had military dictatorships of some kind, while Japan got labor unions and a parliamentary democracy of a kind. In S. Korea and Taiwan, labor unions were illegal. I worked with some Korean nationals 20 yrs ago and they told me the generation just a few yrs older were beaten in the military, at school and in airline training. In Taiwan, the students wore prison type uniforms complete with a number and length of hair was specified. Some of the schools were segregated by sex as well.
Not just the Balkans, it would be interesting to see more about other regions of Europe - Iberia, Scandinavia etc. and stop lumping all of Europe with that label "western democracy" as if all countries are the same, and like the US. Europe is and has never been anything like the US, it just uses the label "west" to take credit for it.
@lati long whilst the "generally accepted" death toll is in the hundreds, since there's been no serious investigation of it we'll never know. Especially since the local hospitals, morges, and officials on the ground reported casualties in the multiple thousands. Even more surprising is the use of American built and trained military helicopters to fire on the protesters. This, prima facie, is a far worse incident than Tiananmen...
I'm sure that will all come in the future, the Vietnam war and Cambodia too have not really been covered yet. I think the channel uses a loose chronology of events, with special video's thrown in there occasionally
It's honestly such an amazing subject. I am one of the people who fail to realize how important the Korean War was, because it often gets shadowed by the Vietnam War and before it ww2 (well ww2 justifiably). But it's probably one of America's greatest achievements. Even if it wasn't so Clear at the time (also it was more or less on the scale of the entire western front both Italy and Normandy-Germany)
It's sometimes known as THE FORGOTTEN WAR. Meaning the people in the US just wanted to forget it! And, to a certain extent, it was forgotten. But not to the veterans and Koreans that lived through it.
@@cptrelentless80085 Despite contributing like 6% of coalition forces, There were still Troops from Ethiopia, Turkey, Colombia, Greece and the Philippines to name a few. Keep in mind there weren't really a lot of Countries at the time kek, so almost all nations that weren't 1. Destroyed by the war like Japan, France, England or otherwise colonies of those. 2. Communist.
@Christian Collins:Many countries joined the war, such as Turkey. Therefore, Turkey joined NATO. There was a rumor that Stalin wanted Constantinople (a city of Turkey), but the Soviets gave up the idea because Turkey joined NATO
I feel like this episode only covered half of its subject. What about all those incidents like Gwangju Uprising, these were turning points in ROK history.
Had no idea that South Korea had so many troubles for so many decades. I sure hope things have gotten a little more stable by now. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
The beginning of the end of Rhee's regime look like pretty similar to the turmoil in Belarus between early 2020 and early 2021, in Russia in early 2021, in Cuba in mid 2021 or Kazakhstan a few days ago.
Russia tends to choose oligarchs for its puppets, whom tend to favour their own wealth over the well being of their own people, but neither Belarus nor Kazakhstan are brutal Fascist dictatorships like South Korea and Taiwan was. Cuba was literally having a Syrian and Libyan style protest, sponsored by none other than CIA, it ultimately failed because a few hundred people showed up to the protests, while the anti-Liberal protests that resulted as an answer to these pro-western ones, numbered literally hundreds of thousands.
Yes, Stalin was afraid of a western invasion into USSR backed up nuclear arms, thats why he also rejected to support the Greek Communists, something he would write about how he came to regret for rest of his life.
South Korea Junta under Park Chung Hee and Taiwan under Chiang Kai Shek/Chiang Ching Kuo are unique and interesting cases of benevolent dictatorship's success, very common in East Asia during Cold War. After working in several Asian countries, i came to understand that East Asians didnt trust democracy back then, yet they also were thoroughly against communism. They perceived strong government, be it civilian or military, largely the latter, to be the best form of governance due to the need for a discipline society as well as political culture. Strong arm politics were common (some persist today) as long as communist influences were being put asunder. The older generation will argue about the best things under ROK & ROC military rule that westerners have difficulties to understand or accept. To put it simply, it is a dictatorship that the country needed, not necessarily deserved, and i think it helps SK & Taiwan to score economic development as well as democratic transition in the 90s.
@Depresso Caspico Revamped looking at your reply, seems to me youre not a student of International Relations. Its a common phrase dude, in diplomatic matters 🙃
@Depresso Caspico Revamped no no no no dude you seem to not understand the background history of why it is called so. Benevolent dictatorship is a political system in which a society or a country, either being forced or conciously accepting, an authoritarian rule for the benefit of the society it rules. For example, South Korea after Korean War was a sick, disfunctional democracy. Syngman Rhee was a corrupt ruler and SK suffered one of the worst era, lacking behind NK (its true) and was one of the poorest country in the world. Not until Park Chung Hee used his military power to boost SK economy and industrialization. Todays SK economy is a legacy of that era, in which discipline and thorough planning were implemented. That story also happened in Taiwan under Chiang Kai Shek and his son Ching Kuo. I am not saying it is the better government, but history told it as it is. And benevolent dictatorship gave good, practical lessons for both countries about democracy, that democracy is not given, and certainly is not free, not to be taken for granted. Hence why, the harsh lesson under this benevolent dictatorship system provides both countries highly revered democratic process to flourish now in modern days so it is not to be repeated 🙄 yes they were brutal, but somehow it was needed during those era where society and political culture were so broken. The more you study, the more you understand and not being such ignorant with simple understanding 🙄
@Depresso Caspico Revamped Man. Talk about being delusional. We certainly have our problems, but please don't pretend to understand our society and economy after watching Squid game. We are the 10th largest economy in the world and a GDP per capita of 35k dollars isn't bad by global standards.
@Depresso Caspico Revamped though dictatorships often go bad a strongman can establish a stable reliable framework to do business in like for Singapore, South Korea and Ethiopia. Many bad dictators exist but also many bad elected leaders too exist, likewise some good dictators exist. Overgeneralizing ideology isnt the end all be all
Man I cannot help but notice, that both Nasser (last week's video) and around 21 minutes in this video, both leaders are being driven around in 1960 model year Cadillacs (they could also be 1959 year, Eldorado Broughams). Stylish choice!
Cadillacs and Buicks are universally seen as dignified car for a politician back then, even the CCP in China had Buicks and Filipino presidents too had Cadillacs in the 60s
Thank you so much for this episode (and all of the others, of course)! Having lived in Korea for years, I was aware of the general ebbs and flows of 20th century Korea but only broadly. As ever, your exploration of this subject was excellently detailed in its approach and helped this lame 외국 finally understand the post-WWII - Junta era.
Any chance of you doing more videos about Indonesia? Perhaps, Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation or Indo-Dutch conflict over West Papua? Or maybe the mass killings of 65-66?
I would like to hear about Consumer electronics products manufactured and sold in East Germany and abroad in a future episode….I recently bought an RFT G-1000 “Hand-Axe” Transistor Radio, and would like some context for consumer products, electronics and entertainment in the GDR. The radio works after minor repairs, it is decent quality….
Not only the South Korea was a dictatorship backed by US during cold war, KMT governance in Taiwan has cruelly suppressed rights of Taiwan citizens in ways (Like Freedom of Speech and association, publishing, rights on running election….) During the Chiang’s regime, they spread white horror that arrested and executed people were claimed as “spy of communists” (most of them were innocent)
Correction: Korea was never truly colonized. It was more of an occupation as the Japanese tried hard to assimilate Koreans, but Koreans actively refused and resisted this as they saw the Japanese as nothing more than "barbarian invaders". The same has been true in its history. Korea has always viewed Japan as Eastern Barbarians because Korean civilization was much older than Japan and Korea had the heaviest influence in the development of early Japan. Korean forces and armiea also regularly took away and liberated swathes of territories from the Japanese in Manchuria and Northern and sometimes Central Korea by conducting offensives. Koreans also conductes assassinations and bombings of Japanese garrisons and buildings to target Japanese officials, with some attacks within Tokyo itself. This contributed to the huge loss of experienced officers within the Japanese Ground Forces thus, the Allies had a lot to thank Korea for. Another correction, the US being a financial sponsor only lasted until the early 70s. Park Chung Hee made it a point that Korea needed to build its own strength to restore its glory. He did so by initiating 5 year plans and investing heavily into infrastructure and industries with future potential. Park Chung Hee was even quoted saying: "In order for our country not to fall, it must cultivate its own strength.". We can see the result of Park's vision when Korea became an economic and military great power in the present.
The rest of Asia nor the world doesn't recognize the contribution Koreans made into fighting Imperial Japan. We are not even a footnote often in WWII studies or documentaries
Shhh… just don’t tell the South Korean far right and the Korean-Americans, otherwise they will draw and quarter you as a “mouthpiece of the Communists.”
Poor Korean people. They were just recovering from Japanese rule, and now they were faced with two more brutal invasions. Despite all their differences, the Soviets and the Americans were one and the same thing as both are imperialistic in outlook and were out to enslave other peoples of the world. With this end in view they were both anxious to capture the maximum possible resources, human as well as material.
@@Aothis South Korea also has many problems which are a direct result of American imperialism. E.g. one of the highest suicide rates. This is because the US imposed their materialistic capitalistic lifestyle on koreans who are traditionally not materialistic. Birth rates are also extremely low, whereas before the US invasion Koreans had many children and korean culture values family structures and life. The West also imposed their hedonistic individualistic lifestyle on many other nations and we see the results today. Also, needless to say, this American culture was imposed on the Koreans with brutal force and thousands of Koreans were massacared at the hands of the Americans
@@HistoryOfRevolutions good and truthfull analisys however some think that as long as the economy keeps growing everything is perfect, and if you complain you are a marxist.
@@HistoryOfRevolutions Thats dumb as not even the US has that high a suicide rate how can its own lifestyle be more devastating in another country lol. Also NK is a Chinese buffer colony state, its the only reason why NK exists. They are both pawns and regionally the weakest.
Not very balanced. South Korea may have been a hard country ruled by ruthless men, but it was considerably less ruthless, less bloody and less hard than North Korea. No chance of any ‘student uprisings’ under Kim il Sung.
Being a loan shark with "enforcers" to beat up people who don't pay is rather different to government regulated banking in first world countries that are liberral democracies.
Politics is culturally determined. East Asian democracy means something totally different from Western democracy. That’s due to different customs, beliefs, cultures and social systems.
@@theawesomeman9821 Asian cultures are more collective based in which the individual must conform. The saying ‘The nail that sticks out gets hammered’ is true. In the West we value individual freedom and autonomy although that is changing.
@@theawesomeman9821 Yes we’re all individuals within a culture and some are influenced by it less than others. However I lived in South Korea for 6 years as a young man and the difference between the social system and values there based on Confucianism and that of my homeland Australia based on individualism was palpable. Neither is better than the other and both have much to learn from each other. In Korea the individual feels intense pressure to conform to societal standards and expectations and face consequences if they don’t. For example people there seldom disobey or go against their parents wishes even when parents or elders are wrong. All men serve in the military and any that manage to avoid it via an exemption are unlikely to find either career nor spouse. Some of the strict traditional values I found refreshing and it must be said violent crime or theft is very rare there. There’s also a visceral unity all Koreans feel of belonging to something. Their country is everything to them and they feel a deep allegiance to it Aussies generally don’t. However there’s also a deep sadness as many sacrifice their dreams for the greater good. I didn’t perceive it as a particularly ‘happy’ place despite being an economic powerhouse. Back to the point, South Korea is a classic Asian democracy. I don’t know but it’s interesting and I’m glad I lived there.
18:10 And his Vice President 이기붕, and his family including his son 이강석, who was adopted by Syngman Rhee had committed suicide after Rhee’s resign. Since they committed corruption and had a responsibilities of April 19th revolution, they feared to get punished by a law and they also been betrayed by Rhee.
I usually appreciate the content from this channel a lot, but the repeated use of arbitrary terms like "good" and "bad" in content about history is a bit perplexing. 🤔
people are usually ignorant of korean history, and think that south korea has always been a democratic prosperous place even back then in the korea war. that being said, using moral qualifiers to raise eyebrows of more critical viewers probably was on purpose
Of course everyone is going to have their own biases, but it seems ridiculous to frame this as "there's bad on the good side too", rather than just admitting neither side was good. The US side is always framed as a lot more sympathetic.
Democracy and Freedom comes with a cost. The US had to endure years of division, infighting, a civil war and reconstruction to become a true Republic. And even today is still working to become a "more perfect union".
In pro-American Asian authoritarian regimes greater economic prosperity lead to increased political freedom & democratic governance. We attempted to apply this model to CCP China & under Xi that strategy is failing. Interesting topic: why did this work over time in many Asian countries during the Cold War?
I am very sad that the US always thinks that all communists are agents of the CCCP(USSR), which has led to a lot of tragedies. In fact, Communists celebrate May Day in memory of American workers.😢😢😢
@@user-cx1ki8li4t Leadership? Certainly. Political commissars? Of course. Police and NKVD? No doubt about it. Rank and file soldiers? Some. Workers, peasants, and the like? No.
Surprisingly, south Korea was poorer than the north for a couple of decades and it was the Vietnam War that helped to boost south Korea's economy drastically, rather like how the Korean war was also a boon for post-war Japan.
The 80’s what then SK’s economy really took off.
america pumped South Korea full of money LOL, thats how it gave a super boom to their economy, look it up there is even a South Korean documentary about how RoK economy artificially was boosted.
North Korea still has a larger heavy industry though, much larger, almost twice the size despite having a population only half of that of the South, they even got semi conductors although at least two decades behind the South in technology when it comes to computers.
Yeah uh North Korea got over a third of its population bombed into oblivion during the war. Ofc their economy suffered
Actually .. USA defended North Korea by staying out of North Korea .. duh...
Invaded South Korea for North Korea..
Red white and blue are family .
United States around the world .
Lieing to people of independence ..
Once was the allied forces.
Now is the all lied forces.
To SK's credit, the junta didn't _just_ cash the Vietnam War check and keep doing their currupt dictatorship business at the expense of American tax payers, like Rhee did.
Gen Park used parts of his dirty money to promote mass education and industrialization, which set the stage for future growth, hence his more nuanced legacy.
(Don't worry though, they still kept a good chunk in their pockets.)
South Korea has had such a turbulent up and down political history.
Republics mixed with several dictatorships, a president impeached a few years ago, and through all that going from a poor country to an economic power.
That crazy history goes back over 1,000 years
Yet many polititards in South Korea
(Kim Dae Jung, Kim Young Sam, & Roh-the-whatever who committed suicide over a
US$6,000ks corruption charge)
dreamt of making South Korea like North Korea by pouring uncounted US$1,000ks of their citizens' taxpayer-money into the pockets of the kim-die-nasties in the North.
Remember Kim Dae Jung's "Sunshine Policy",
continued under Kim Young Sam & Roh-the-whatever, toward the kim-die-nasty's black hole ?
Well the black hole swallowed the "Shining Sun".
South Korea only existed since 1948 bro
@@jeongsungmin2023Korea was a peaceful monarchy in the past decades until the cold war ruined everything.🤦🏾♂️😒
@@jeongsungmin2023Korea was a peaceful monarchy in the past decades until the cold war ruined everything.🤦🏾♂️😒
I can barely wait for the Brazilian Military Dictatorship episode. Also I'm impressed that South Korea didn't crumble the same way as South Vietnam.
yah cause the ROK actually fought hard for and loved their country and had much more better leadership than South Vietnam. Also the South Korean dictator Park Chung Hee, is a tough very wise and progressive man. He is the reason why South Korea is one of the richest countries in the world. You can see this by his demeanor like the time when someone tried to assasinate him and ended up killing the wife in front of him, while the wife was being carried away dead, he just kept on giving his speech and did not stop, holy fuck , that is the epitome of TOUGH.
Some aspects of the South Korean society did crumble down. Most noticeably the much quicker abandonment of traditional culture that made the westernization of the Republican China era (represented by Lǔ Xùn) look like amateurs.
South Vietnam was abandoned by the US.
@@user-cx1ki8li4t well if only South Vietnam had a backbone instead of relying on US soldiers fighting and dying for their freedom for a decade. How much goodwill do you expect any country to have when its not reciprocated?
I think a difference is that the wars were fought completely differently. The North Korean army and infrastructure was almost annihilated by the UN forces, with only China pushing them back, later coming to a ceasefire, leaving an intact ROK army. Meanwhile, north Vietnam could infiltrate the south indefinitely and was supplied with almost unlimited resources by China and the USSR, with the US only launching ineffective search and destroy missions within south Vietnam, allowing the NVA and Viet Cong to regroup and grow in power over the years, while the south Vietnamese army was abandoned when the US withdrew troops and didn't even supply ammunition and spare parts.
The rise and fall of Park Chung Hee should be its own episode. His assassination story is crazy in itself.
Korean (ROK) politics has reminded me of a national version of Illinois/Chicago corruption. Prominent leaders over the years have ended up investigated, charged with some crime, or ended up in prison, or… dead.
As someone of Korean heritage who lived there in the early 90s, Korea has seen a massive change in a short time. I remember seeing a completely different Seoul than the one I see in photos today. Pyeongtaek was just a big city and known train hub. In the early 90s, some businesses still didn’t have running water.
Park Geun Hye, Park's daughter will never forget what happened to him that day
i can't understand why the US didn't create a single korean nation state right after the end of wwi? was the PRK a communist organization?
What are your thoughts on park chung hee? Was he good?
@@andriypohors2538 its because after the war korea are already devide into two along 38th parralel, the norther part was under soviet union and souther part under the US. There is a talk to make korea as unified by both but unlike the austria who have the same situation as korea and german but manage to avoid devide, korea isn't. Its mainly because two thing first north korea are significantly closer and have the border with either china and soviet, second was because cold war already begun and both politican didn't want to pull back from their version of korea.
@@sbevexlr848 president park is a hero, and hold the highest approval rate in south korean history.
As someone who is living in Egypt I can see parallels between what my country is going through and what Korea went through. Funny how history repeats itself in different forms and curious where the future will lead us
“Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.”
That's not repetition, it's a rhyme.
@@yutakago1736 "History does not repeat, it rhymes"
Great content as always, Park Chung-hee deserves a standalone episode. Hope you can also do one on Cold War era Philippine dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos some day.
His story is intriguing to say the least. He was once a teacher in his age of 20, then joined Japanese army as a low-ranking officer, then joined Korean government-in-exile after the war, then became a communist in the liberated South, got busted and almost executed by the army, then joined the same army and fought against communists in the Korean War, then after Syngman Rhee was overthrown by a student revolution, he incurred a military coup and took control of the country. South Korea saw rapid economic developments and industrialization in his reign, but he also supressed thousands of his opposition by labelling them communists, joined the Vietnam War and completely abolished presidential voting system to cling onto his power forever, but got assassinated by his most trusted second-in-command during a nice dinner party. Once a communist, but now a symbol of conservatism and anti-communism in modern Korea... Irony speaks for itself.
Great video. Please do a video on the democratization of South Korea
Pretty sure they will :D
Will take some time to get to 1987 :(
Hey Phillip, whatsup
@@Barbossa778 Whatsup!!!
None of this stuff was publicized in the United States at the time. We were always told that South Korea in the 1960's was a shining example of a thriving democratic state and a gallant ally in the struggle against global Communism. Will there be a episode about the early years of the Nationalist Chinese in Taiwan?
check also the massacre of communists and civilians in Indonesia. At least a million men, women and children butchered in the space of some weeks with the active cooperation of the united states.
@JC None of this excuses the brutality of the dictatorship of Rhee, nor the lies we were told about 1950's SK in the west.
@@stupidben999 if you ever had an intelligent thought, it died alone and afraid it seems.
@@stupidben999 when your peen is 3 inches long in erec+10n so you have to get off on torturing people who can actually contribute to society
South Korea and Taiwan were both brutal nationalist dictatorships for most of their history until just recently. South Korea began democratizing in the 1980s and Taiwan in the 1990s
This part of Korean history is somehow similar to the Philippine history during martial law. Both supported by the US to prevent the spread of communism in expense of human rights and "democracy", which the US was supposedly promoting.
Fact: Both Syngman Ree and Ferdinand Marcos Sr. died in Hawaii.
Fun Fact: Both Syngman Ree and Ferdinand Marcos Sr. died in Hawaii.
The only difference is that Park Chung Hee is remembered as one of the people who helped make South Korea prosper more, while during Marcos' time, it was the Philippines' worst recession in history, with large amounts of dept and corruption.
@@sungjinpark1450 Both are Corrupt neverthless
@@Barberserk Yeah yeah ....blame the US for all the shit in your country, nevermind that had the Communist took power, you would be in far deeper shit.....and you won't even know it.
@@aegystierone8505 Just because we aren't satisfied with the military dictatorships backed by Americans doesn't mean we'd like the commies, we in ASEAN just wanted the "democratic privileges" Americans in America has and not a false one done in our region that are no different from the oppression the Communist regimes in our neighbors do
It's a pity that Syngman Rhee got away rather than being torn apart in the streets tbh
I hope you mentioned these things:
1. That the Taft-Katsura agreement in 1905 paved way for Japan to colonize Korea and was approved by the USA. Yes, America was heavily involved in bringing down an independant Korea at that time.
2. During the Cold War, South Korea also heavily persecuted Roman Catholics as they were vocal in protecting the already fragile labor unions. Hence even today in South Korea, old ladies would say "aren't Catholics spies from communist countries?".
3. Pretty much the military brasses and high-ranked bureaucrats of South Korea's 1st and 2nd republics were Manchukuo era public sevants and they also persecuted most of the Provisional Korean government officials that were active in Republican China at that time. So people often forget that South Korea today was created mainly by Koreans who supported Imperial Japan and did worship the emperor. It's arguable to say that today's South Korea is the literal last vestige of Imperial Japan, especially with the current South Korean military still retaining Japanese military traditions.
You are really overrating the Taft Katsura agreement which wasn't formal and mainly just diplomacy between the USA and Japan to not interfere in each others business. The USA was not nearly the world power in 1905.
@@guppy719 Yeah. It was mostly the European powers that had a massive sphere of influence in that region of the world at that time. The U.S. prior to the 1st World War had no or very little interest in that part of the world. Japan was a huge power in Asia with an equally powerful Navy with a rival with the Imperial Russians at that time. The U.S. stuck to the Northern Hemisphere and as usual were largely Isolationist. Prior to and after World War 1 until the 2nd World War.
@@R3dH4z3 wrong. US did have ambition in Asia Pacific back then, but US was a rising power. In 1905, US already had a leased territory in China as all other powers. US was trying to catch up with the other powers.
@@R3dH4z3 The US had a territory in the Asia-Pacific region during those times and it is called the Philippine islands.
@@cossacktwofive4974 Not mainland Asia.
1. Not mentioning the reason the Southern route party(남로당) could grab such popularity is sort of a mistake. In a popular demonstration in March first celebrating the March First movement(duh) of 1919, mounted police overseeing the demonstration kicked a child and ignored his injuries. The crowd got mad and started converging and some threw rocks, which the police took as the whole crowd was against them and started shooting. 6 people died and 8 got injured, and of the six people that died 5 were shot in the back. This obvious case of police brutality was fertile ground for the commies to find supporters, and then the uprising started. Also, 30k people might sound to be small, but it was 1/8th of the population.
2. The 1952 Amendment was glossed over(probably because it happened during the war), which instituted presidential direct elections. Imo this is a very important event that should have been mentioned.
3. the 1954 Amendment went down in history because of the ridiculous way the vote was counted; 203 representative voted, and that means two thirds comes down to 135.333333.... Thus, to surpass the 2/3 threshold, there needs to be at least 136 votes in favor. However, the vote came down to 135 in favor, 7 abstained, 60 against, and 1 disqualified. Then Lee's government went with the ridiculous line that as the threshold is technically not 136 but 135.333333.... and 135.333333 is closer to 135, not 136, the math suggests the threshold is actually 135. They actually got mathematics professors from the most prestigious unis at that time to say this. Ofc, it was complete malarkey, and the charade went on.
4. The 1960 elections were one of the most fraudulent in history. Reported fraud includes, but are not limited to: Bribing voters and closing stations down so that at least 2/5 of the actual voters don't show up, then add those votes in for the government, Voting in groups of 3 and 5(Literally, as in people going into the booths at 5 at a time), using muscles(gangs) to intimidate voters and especially the opposition, Switching ballot boxes, stamping votes for the opposition so that they are disqualified.
Generally a good video, wish these were included.
Well, didn't know SK had such events.
"4. The 1960 elections were one of the most fraudulent in history."
When my grandfather's party reps were on their way to file the paperwork to run in the 1960 election, government thugs attacked them, stealing the papers. There's a grainy photo of the assault that I've seen in a couple of history books. and newspaper articles.
That little speech with the "we are all mortal" line carefully avoids saying that we are all "human", wouldn't want to humanize the opposition.
I need a part 2 elaborating events during and after south korea's martial law period.
Last edit: please do a philippine martial law video before may 2022 elections.
This is important! I hope you guys do a video on our Martial Law. :(
Korea was not just been occupied by Japan. It was colonised by Japan for over 4 decades.
Complete mystery to most Americans that the most prosperous and stable parts of east Asia were ALL products of empire -- British and Japanese in particular: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore. ....If only the most prominent product of U.S. empire -- the Philippines -- were so well off.
@@MrJm323 Philippines was a US protectorate , not a colony. and no colonialism doesn't give an excuse for development , even if it's a mystery. It's the cultural upbringing of the folks of the place and a sense of competitiveness in their society that helped them to grew what it was today. also they were lucky they got a good lists of leaders to guide them out.
@@MrJm323 Are you being intentionally provocative? As with those of WW2 Germany, the British and Japanese crimes against these regions must never be forgotten.
@@wutangmitch What was the "British crime"? Bringing civilization, science and constitutionalism to Chinese and Malays?!?
You can always be assured that you are hearing from an advocate of feudalism, slavery, barbaric absolutism, and tribal savagery when you hear a person besmirching the British Empire of the 19th century.
(And the "revolutionary" USA was a product of British imperialism.)
The Japanese imperial project has been reduced to the actions of its fascistic militarists of the 1930s and '40s. The truth is, the Japanese dragged Korea out of the dark ages (starting years before its formal annexation in 1910) and trained up the elite which continued the development policies Japan had initiated, and which ultimately led Korea to its First World status today. Just websearching pictures of Seoul from the 1930s in contrast to the first decade of the 20th century will show you the progress. The president of South Korea most responsible for its rapid development was Park Chung-hee (military junta leader and president from 1961 to 1979) -- a product of the Japanese colonial schools system and its military academies.
@@MrJm323 Britain in the 1800’s was a nation of exploitative, syphilitic losers.
While Korea had enjoyed centuries of refined culture and proud traditions, Japan was a loosely-knit band of feudal warlords wearing grass shoes up until the late 19th century.
Although they love to take credit where it is undue, Britain and Japan have actually contributed nothing of substance to the world, apart from destabilization and misery. The feudalism, slavery, barbarism, and savagery that you invoked earlier were their specialties.
In fact, the peculiar national character of these aggressive, backward, island nations remains on display to this day.
Excellent video. Hope you will do a similar video on pre-1996 Taiwan, which was also ruled by a brutal authoritarian government.
That’d be interesting.
Yes, I have heard of brutal authoritarian government in Taiwan from a couple came from Taiwan.
228!
Once Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, things began to get much less repressive under his son. Although, Taiwan was a one party state under the KMT until Chen Shui Bian's party won in 2000s.
Interesting video. And I gotta say, that's a really nice clear picture on that old TV he's got.
The Cold War was better said a confruntation between communist states and anti-communist states.
@JC freedom states? Explains why South Korea and South Vietnam were both under brutal dictatorships. Don't get me wrong I'm glad nk didn't win the war, but let's not pretend sk was some flourishing democracy back then either.
When you mention the democratic party started having infighting once they took power, it reminded me of so many situations throughout history. Once the common enemy is gone, all the little issues that divide people come to the forefront. Sometimes, the best thing that can happen is for there to be something really bad that you can agree on. Just like WWII brought the entire "free" world together.
Errr... you sure you want MacArthur as a sponsor?...
He's hardly a sponsor...just a callback to our constantly calling him "Megalomaniac MacArthur" in prior videos where he has come up.
@@TheColdWarTV im curious to know what is the art style that you are using in your videos?
Hey David! After many weeks of falling into the wonderful rabbit hole of videos, I subscribed! Got a suggestion though: I am from Colombia, and it has been fun to figure how the cold war affected my life. Well, my grandparent’s families left the countryside after fleeing violence from left and right wing groups. Then, I lived in a neighbourhood of the capital called “Kennedy city”, studied in a primary school called “John F Kennedy” and attended a public university whose main landmark is the “plaza Che Guevara”. My father was a public worker from the main television channel and benefited form an early age pension that reflects how important television was for government propaganda purposes. Anyway, one pivotal element in this personal story is the “alliance for progress” which is mainly seen in latinamerica as the “Marshall Plan” for the region. I am sure that you can do an excellent video about that. Here is a video you can watch as a teaser.
Cheers David and all the team. This is a great channel.
ua-cam.com/video/Ag7RXjNxF04/v-deo.html
As I have learned more about the Cold War I have come to the conclusion that IF you want to break it down into a binary (no matter how inaccurate that will be) then it would be thus: the communist world vs. the non-communist world. With this video and countless other examples as proof, I argue that non-communist was not and is not the same as democratic.
South Korea’s journey to democracy, though a bumpy ride, is a incredible story & I really hope you folks will continue to cover South Korea in your future videos.
Other side of good was never good to begin with 😂 Just another example of US foreign policy failures
Thank you for the video
S. Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan all had military dictatorships of some kind, while Japan got labor unions and a parliamentary democracy of a kind. In S. Korea and Taiwan, labor unions were illegal. I worked with some Korean nationals 20 yrs ago and they told me the generation just a few yrs older were beaten in the military, at school and in airline training. In Taiwan, the students wore prison type uniforms complete with a number and length of hair was specified. Some of the schools were segregated by sex as well.
Could South Vietnam too had it survived from your perspective?
That was an excellent presentation. Thank you.
This is contradictory the first unbiased description on this channel
It would be interesting to see more things about the Balkans, especially the SFR Yugoslavia
Not just the Balkans, it would be interesting to see more about other regions of Europe - Iberia, Scandinavia etc. and stop lumping all of Europe with that label "western democracy" as if all countries are the same, and like the US. Europe is and has never been anything like the US, it just uses the label "west" to take credit for it.
I'm learning so much from each episode you put out thank you for the care in details.
North Korea: We shall unify Korea under the leadership of the Kim family!
South Korea: We shall unify the world under the k-pop group BTS!
I’ve been waiting so long!!!
Didn't mention the Gwangju incident?
@lati long whilst the "generally accepted" death toll is in the hundreds, since there's been no serious investigation of it we'll never know. Especially since the local hospitals, morges, and officials on the ground reported casualties in the multiple thousands.
Even more surprising is the use of American built and trained military helicopters to fire on the protesters.
This, prima facie, is a far worse incident than Tiananmen...
I wonder when David will discuss about Kim Il Sung's dictatorship or the dictatorships in the two Vietnams.
I'm sure that will all come in the future, the Vietnam war and Cambodia too have not really been covered yet. I think the channel uses a loose chronology of events, with special video's thrown in there occasionally
Love your videos. Where can I support you?
It's honestly such an amazing subject. I am one of the people who fail to realize how important the Korean War was, because it often gets shadowed by the Vietnam War and before it ww2 (well ww2 justifiably).
But it's probably one of America's greatest achievements. Even if it wasn't so Clear at the time (also it was more or less on the scale of the entire western front both Italy and Normandy-Germany)
It's sometimes known as THE FORGOTTEN WAR. Meaning the people in the US just wanted to forget it! And, to a certain extent, it was forgotten. But not to the veterans and Koreans that lived through it.
I'm surprised that only America fought in the war. People keep saying it was the UN and shit like that.
@@cptrelentless80085 Despite contributing like 6% of coalition forces,
There were still Troops from Ethiopia, Turkey, Colombia, Greece and the Philippines to name a few.
Keep in mind there weren't really a lot of Countries at the time kek, so almost all nations that weren't
1. Destroyed by the war like Japan, France, England or otherwise colonies of those.
2. Communist.
@Christian Collins:Many countries joined the war, such as Turkey. Therefore, Turkey joined NATO. There was a rumor that Stalin wanted Constantinople (a city of Turkey), but the Soviets gave up the idea because Turkey joined NATO
The Korean War.... it gave a huge life power to the American miltiary industrial complex during the Cold War and to this day.
Excellent episode! 👍
I feel like this episode only covered half of its subject. What about all those incidents like Gwangju Uprising, these were turning points in ROK history.
This was very interesting context. So when are we seeing a video on Southern Africa?
Had no idea that South Korea had so many troubles for so many decades. I sure hope things have gotten a little more stable by now. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
Not only Korea but Taiwan was also controlled by one party dictatorship (KMT) until the end of 70's.
Have you posted anything on the brutal North Korean dictatorship as well?
Video starts at 2:06
Chun-Doo-Hwan the last leader of the military junta died in November last year.
Good riddance.
Very interesting. Thank you.
The beginning of the end of Rhee's regime look like pretty similar to the turmoil in Belarus between early 2020 and early 2021, in Russia in early 2021, in Cuba in mid 2021 or Kazakhstan a few days ago.
Russia tends to choose oligarchs for its puppets, whom tend to favour their own wealth over the well being of their own people, but neither Belarus nor Kazakhstan are brutal Fascist dictatorships like South Korea and Taiwan was.
Cuba was literally having a Syrian and Libyan style protest, sponsored by none other than CIA, it ultimately failed because a few hundred people showed up to the protests, while the anti-Liberal protests that resulted as an answer to these pro-western ones, numbered literally hundreds of thousands.
@@SMGJohn Kazakhstan is brutal. The police massacred oil workers in 2011. They killed 208 protestors in this year's protests. Nazarbayev is a bastard
Not in the slightest.
Excellent!
Dictators are bad, unless they are on our side. Pretty much sums up US strategy during the Cold War.
And now
The US is still continuing their relationship with Saudi Arabia.
That's US policy from 1775-2022 (and counting)
The Soviet did not reject dividing Korea because it did not have nukes back then but the US did. Otherwise, things could be different.
Yes, Stalin was afraid of a western invasion into USSR backed up nuclear arms, thats why he also rejected to support the Greek Communists, something he would write about how he came to regret for rest of his life.
South Korea Junta under Park Chung Hee and Taiwan under Chiang Kai Shek/Chiang Ching Kuo are unique and interesting cases of benevolent dictatorship's success, very common in East Asia during Cold War. After working in several Asian countries, i came to understand that East Asians didnt trust democracy back then, yet they also were thoroughly against communism. They perceived strong government, be it civilian or military, largely the latter, to be the best form of governance due to the need for a discipline society as well as political culture. Strong arm politics were common (some persist today) as long as communist influences were being put asunder. The older generation will argue about the best things under ROK & ROC military rule that westerners have difficulties to understand or accept. To put it simply, it is a dictatorship that the country needed, not necessarily deserved, and i think it helps SK & Taiwan to score economic development as well as democratic transition in the 90s.
@Depresso Caspico Revamped looking at your reply, seems to me youre not a student of International Relations. Its a common phrase dude, in diplomatic matters 🙃
@Depresso Caspico Revamped no no no no dude you seem to not understand the background history of why it is called so. Benevolent dictatorship is a political system in which a society or a country, either being forced or conciously accepting, an authoritarian rule for the benefit of the society it rules. For example, South Korea after Korean War was a sick, disfunctional democracy. Syngman Rhee was a corrupt ruler and SK suffered one of the worst era, lacking behind NK (its true) and was one of the poorest country in the world. Not until Park Chung Hee used his military power to boost SK economy and industrialization. Todays SK economy is a legacy of that era, in which discipline and thorough planning were implemented. That story also happened in Taiwan under Chiang Kai Shek and his son Ching Kuo. I am not saying it is the better government, but history told it as it is. And benevolent dictatorship gave good, practical lessons for both countries about democracy, that democracy is not given, and certainly is not free, not to be taken for granted. Hence why, the harsh lesson under this benevolent dictatorship system provides both countries highly revered democratic process to flourish now in modern days so it is not to be repeated 🙄 yes they were brutal, but somehow it was needed during those era where society and political culture were so broken. The more you study, the more you understand and not being such ignorant with simple understanding 🙄
@Depresso Caspico Revamped Man. Talk about being delusional. We certainly have our problems, but please don't pretend to understand our society and economy after watching Squid game. We are the 10th largest economy in the world and a GDP per capita of 35k dollars isn't bad by global standards.
@Depresso Caspico Revamped explain Singapore's early modern history then.
@Depresso Caspico Revamped though dictatorships often go bad a strongman can establish a stable reliable framework to do business in like for Singapore, South Korea and Ethiopia. Many bad dictators exist but also many bad elected leaders too exist, likewise some good dictators exist. Overgeneralizing ideology isnt the end all be all
I watch until the very end, just so i can hear the unique closing remarks that are related to the video. It's awesome
Man I cannot help but notice, that both Nasser (last week's video) and around 21 minutes in this video, both leaders are being driven around in 1960 model year Cadillacs (they could also be 1959 year, Eldorado Broughams). Stylish choice!
Cadillacs and Buicks are universally seen as dignified car for a politician back then, even the CCP in China had Buicks and Filipino presidents too had Cadillacs in the 60s
Thank you so much for this episode (and all of the others, of course)! Having lived in Korea for years, I was aware of the general ebbs and flows of 20th century Korea but only broadly. As ever, your exploration of this subject was excellently detailed in its approach and helped this lame 외국 finally understand the post-WWII - Junta era.
Do you mean 외국인
Wow. Jeju the touristy island had a very dark secret.
Also.... Is there a gwangju uprising video done?
you should make the exact same episode for the situation post war in Greece....the similarities with S.Korea are staggering...
Make a video about the military dictatorship in Brazil!
Any chance of you doing more videos about Indonesia? Perhaps, Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation or Indo-Dutch conflict over West Papua? Or maybe the mass killings of 65-66?
sudah kundungga pasti akan ada yang minta indonesia abis nonton ini wkwkwkk
I would like to hear about Consumer electronics products manufactured and sold in East Germany and abroad in a future episode….I recently bought an RFT G-1000 “Hand-Axe” Transistor Radio, and would like some context for consumer products, electronics and entertainment in the GDR. The radio works after minor repairs, it is decent quality….
7:50 Parliamentary vs Presidential
Not only the South Korea was a dictatorship backed by US during cold war, KMT governance in Taiwan has cruelly suppressed rights of Taiwan citizens in ways (Like Freedom of Speech and association, publishing, rights on running election….)
During the Chiang’s regime, they spread white horror that arrested and executed people were claimed as “spy of communists” (most of them were innocent)
Good topic
Correction: Korea was never truly colonized. It was more of an occupation as the Japanese tried hard to assimilate Koreans, but Koreans actively refused and resisted this as they saw the Japanese as nothing more than "barbarian invaders". The same has been true in its history. Korea has always viewed Japan as Eastern Barbarians because Korean civilization was much older than Japan and Korea had the heaviest influence in the development of early Japan. Korean forces and armiea also regularly took away and liberated swathes of territories from the Japanese in Manchuria and Northern and sometimes Central Korea by conducting offensives. Koreans also conductes assassinations and bombings of Japanese garrisons and buildings to target Japanese officials, with some attacks within Tokyo itself. This contributed to the huge loss of experienced officers within the Japanese Ground Forces thus, the Allies had a lot to thank Korea for. Another correction, the US being a financial sponsor only lasted until the early 70s. Park Chung Hee made it a point that Korea needed to build its own strength to restore its glory. He did so by initiating 5 year plans and investing heavily into infrastructure and industries with future potential. Park Chung Hee was even quoted saying: "In order for our country not to fall, it must cultivate its own strength.". We can see the result of Park's vision when Korea became an economic and military great power in the present.
The rest of Asia nor the world doesn't recognize the contribution Koreans made into fighting Imperial Japan. We are not even a footnote often in WWII studies or documentaries
Thank you.👍
Finally after weeks of asking it works
I saw some Han characters in the video. This should be the last time Han characters appeared on the land of South Korea. After that, it was banned.
And it was revived several years later. South Korean dictionaries still rely on Chinese characters to solve disambiguities.
@Tae Ho Kim：this makes me happy😃😃😃
I am not Korean but I have read that Korean legal and academic documents use hanja so I do not think it is banned.
Shhh… just don’t tell the South Korean far right and the Korean-Americans, otherwise they will draw and quarter you as a “mouthpiece of the Communists.”
Poor Korean people. They were just recovering from Japanese rule, and now they were faced with two more brutal invasions. Despite all their differences, the Soviets and the Americans were one and the same thing as both are imperialistic in outlook and were out to enslave other peoples of the world. With this end in view they were both anxious to capture the maximum possible resources, human as well as material.
South Koreans dont seem to mind it as the 10th largest economy.
@@Aothis South Korea also has many problems which are a direct result of American imperialism. E.g. one of the highest suicide rates. This is because the US imposed their materialistic capitalistic lifestyle on koreans who are traditionally not materialistic. Birth rates are also extremely low, whereas before the US invasion Koreans had many children and korean culture values family structures and life. The West also imposed their hedonistic individualistic lifestyle on many other nations and we see the results today. Also, needless to say, this American culture was imposed on the Koreans with brutal force and thousands of Koreans were massacared at the hands of the Americans
@@HistoryOfRevolutions good and truthfull analisys however some think that as long as the economy keeps growing everything is perfect, and if you complain you are a marxist.
@@Aothis Places like S Korea and Japan are some of the worst places to work but that's okay because production numbers are good.
@@HistoryOfRevolutions Thats dumb as not even the US has that high a suicide rate how can its own lifestyle be more devastating in another country lol. Also NK is a Chinese buffer colony state, its the only reason why NK exists. They are both pawns and regionally the weakest.
Not very balanced. South Korea may have been a hard country ruled by ruthless men, but it was considerably less ruthless, less bloody and less hard than North Korea. No chance of any ‘student uprisings’ under Kim il Sung.
There was Numerous revolt in North Korea. But it was oppressed by the secret police and sent to the concentration camp.
Easy narrative for school children sums up a lot of American history education
"Easy narrative that won't offend the overly sensitive parents of schoolchildren" might be even closer to the mark.
@@asdic888 yeah but those parent are only so sensitive cause of the easy narratives they were fed it’s a problem that feeds into itself
@@alexalexandrov9684 Too true. Vicious spiral of ignorance.
Can you do a feature episode about the South Korea under Park Chung Hee
This man literally just called money lending a "nefarious practice" 🤣🤣🤣
Depends on who is doing and if they fit a age old bigoted ethnic group.
IDGAF its all a gatbage way to enslave people regardless of anything
@@cmurderfrumpbottoniv8647 🤣
Being a loan shark with "enforcers" to beat up people who don't pay is rather different to government regulated banking in first world countries that are liberral democracies.
@@Dave_Sisson Different how? Because one is sanctioned and the other is not? Don't armed police officers enforce your eviction?
Wow, and they did not choose Rhee, he was hand-picked by the US.
Democracy is a lot harder than dictatorship
Politics is culturally determined.
East Asian democracy means something totally different from Western democracy.
That’s due to different customs, beliefs, cultures and social systems.
what's the big difference?
@@theawesomeman9821
Asian cultures are more collective based in which the individual must conform.
The saying ‘The nail that sticks out gets hammered’ is true.
In the West we value individual freedom and autonomy although that is changing.
@@gusyates1839 good point but I've met many Koreans and Hong Kongers who are pretty self centered by your standards
@@theawesomeman9821
Yes we’re all individuals within a culture and some are influenced by it less than others.
However I lived in South Korea for 6 years as a young man and the difference between the social system and values there based on Confucianism and that of my homeland Australia based on individualism was palpable.
Neither is better than the other and both have much to learn from each other.
In Korea the individual feels intense pressure to conform to societal standards and expectations and face consequences if they don’t.
For example people there seldom disobey or go against their parents wishes even when parents or elders are wrong.
All men serve in the military and any that manage to avoid it via an exemption are unlikely to find either career nor spouse.
Some of the strict traditional values I found refreshing and it must be said violent crime or theft is very rare there.
There’s also a visceral unity all Koreans feel of belonging to something.
Their country is everything to them and they feel a deep allegiance to it Aussies generally don’t.
However there’s also a deep sadness as many sacrifice their dreams for the greater good.
I didn’t perceive it as a particularly ‘happy’ place despite being an economic powerhouse.
Back to the point, South Korea is a classic Asian democracy.
I don’t know but it’s interesting and I’m glad I lived there.
@@gusyates1839 cool
18:10 And his Vice President 이기붕, and his family including his son 이강석, who was adopted by Syngman Rhee had committed suicide after Rhee’s resign. Since they committed corruption and had a responsibilities of April 19th revolution, they feared to get punished by a law and they also been betrayed by Rhee.
I like this channel
It is crazy that this kind of videos are banned for people under 18. Is knowledge something reserved for adults? UA-cam shouls review its policies...
My father in law was actually one of those students! Interestingly enough he's now a very conservative man.
Can you please make more videos about Vietnam?
Thanks
Love the age restriction. I get the feeling youtube dosen't want us to know about history
I usually appreciate the content from this channel a lot, but the repeated use of arbitrary terms like "good" and "bad" in content about history is a bit perplexing. 🤔
people are usually ignorant of korean history, and think that south korea has always been a democratic prosperous place even back then in the korea war.
that being said, using moral qualifiers to raise eyebrows of more critical viewers probably was on purpose
Yeah, except the Soviets weren't trying to control Korea. Kind of makes the rest of the story less surprising.
I think your hashtags are from the last video about Egypt
Can you do a feature episode about the Philippines under Ferdinand E. Marcos
Skip to 2:05
Why do i get a video about manscaped instead of the coldwar video with the same south korean title?
Sigman rhee acted like the old man in Squid game: I'm not quite dead, just yet.
Please do Taiwan, please.
Your bell button jokes are the reason I eventually oppressed the bell button.
Of course everyone is going to have their own biases, but it seems ridiculous to frame this as "there's bad on the good side too", rather than just admitting neither side was good. The US side is always framed as a lot more sympathetic.
Yeah, really poorly worded or poorly thought out on their part.
The repression in jeju island was massive and brutal...
Anyone remember the “Slickey Boys”?
That would be a good episode in and of itself.
Probably confined to those of us who served in the 2nd Infantry Division before 1990 or so.
Free United Korea!
Is there an equivalent video covering north Korea during this period?
Democracy and Freedom comes with a cost. The US had to endure years of division, infighting, a civil war and reconstruction to become a true Republic. And even today is still working to become a "more perfect union".
Day 1 of asking to talk about the Korean economic boom or Han economic miracle korean gate or second Korean War Dmz conflict
In pro-American Asian authoritarian regimes greater economic prosperity lead to increased political freedom & democratic governance. We attempted to apply this model to CCP China & under Xi that strategy is failing. Interesting topic: why did this work over time in many Asian countries during the Cold War?
Has the narrator spent much time in the paradise that is North Korea, his apparent lamented vision of what could have been for the entire peninsula?
Can't wait for the history of Singapore during and after the merger of malaysia
I am very sad that the US always thinks that all communists are agents of the CCCP(USSR), which has led to a lot of tragedies. In fact, Communists celebrate May Day in memory of American workers.😢😢😢
Where?
Not all communists are soviet agents, but all communists are bandits
@Kasuga Ryuichi：The Soviets, Americans and Europeans defeated Germany together, and the Soviets paid the most sacrifices. Are the Soviets all bandits?
@@user-cx1ki8li4t Leadership? Certainly. Political commissars? Of course. Police and NKVD? No doubt about it. Rank and file soldiers? Some. Workers, peasants, and the like? No.
@Kasuga Ryuichi：Leaders, political commissars and other Soviets won World War II，so everyone is a hero