The Korean War: The Untold Truth

Chapter 7 Whale Fighting Shrimp (1)
Secretary of State Dean Acheson, the eloquent and furious man who, at one particularly depressing moment in the Korean War, burst into outrage, roared: "If the smartest people in the world try to Finding the worst possible place to start this goddamn war, both politically and militarily, will pick North Korea without exception!" Indeed, South Korea, a U.N.-designated ally, is a rather awkward partner, but there are reason.North Korea was and remains one of those troubled nations, always caught in the cracks of world power politics, constantly at the mercy of, trampled upon, and occupied by neighboring powers.In the eyes of North Koreans, China, Japan and Russia are enemies for generations.Whenever Japan ventured into periodic imperialist conquests into the Asian continent, North Korea was the ideal route of invasion.From a defensive perspective, Japan sees the Korean peninsula as a dagger stabbed at it from China.For centuries, each of these adversaries has used North Korea for their own self-interest, and North Korea cannot count on any of them to "protect" it unless some quid pro quo is offered, such as a trade monopoly or government subordination .As an ancient North Korean proverb goes: "When a whale fights, it hurts a shrimp."

Starting from its own interests, North Korea has always hoped to be alone in order to cultivate and enjoy a long history and civilization.During a rare brief period without foreign occupation in the 17th century, a Joseon king even forbade the mining of gold and silver, in an attempt to reduce barbarian interest in entering Korea.But attempts to become a "hermit kingdom" fell through. In 1882, at another critical moment, the Chinese even persuaded the weak Korean government to negotiate a rather vaguely worded "friendship" treaty with the United States in order to weaken the dominance of the Japanese.Although the U.S. had no economic or other interests in North Korea at the time, U.S. diplomats agreed to the treaty to establish a possible future foothold in the country.The operative clause in the treaty stipulates: "If the government of one party is treated unfairly or oppressively by other powers, the other party shall mediate from the day it learns about it, so as to achieve a peaceful settlement and show mutual friendship."

There is no doubt that the wording of the treaty was so vague that the powerful could take advantage of it at will.After the treaty was concluded, the United States quickly put it aside for practical and practical reasons: the United States had neither the ambition nor the power to exert any influence in the Far East.Thus, when Russia and Japan signed a formal agreement dividing spheres of influence in Korea in 1896, the United States remained silent.Japan and Russia almost separated the Korean peninsula along the [-]th parallel, with Russia occupying the northern half and Japan occupying the southern half, and the two sides held political and economic power in their respective regions.By capturing the capital, Seoul, the Japanese took control of the Korean puppet royal family—a nominal ruler whose main function was to suppress domestic opposition.North Korea, a divided vassal state, can neither control its own status quo, nor have any say in its own future.

But, as occupying forces have learned historically, the quality of nationalist dignity cannot be easily erased with a bayonet or military boots.North Koreans have strong feelings about their past, fondly reminiscing about those distant times, and the country prides itself on a culture untouched by outsiders.Nowhere is this emotion stronger than in a curious social class called the Liangban.

Those in the "two classes" are all dressed up as scholars, with tall crowns and long beards. They have devoted their lives to the most special knowledge: memorizing their own or the genealogy of other Korean families.Li Jingshan is a very dedicated "two classes". He can sit on the cushion with his legs crossed for several hours; A glorious scene 24 generations ago, when a relative in his paternal line was briefly involved in the succession of the Goryeo throne.

However, Lee Kyung-sun's son Lee Seung-man (born March 1875, 3) realized the absurdity of the "two classes" system when he was young.What is the value of paying homage to ancestors when the current family lives in a dilapidated wooden house overlooking Seoul and survives on handfuls of rice a day? What right does "Liangban" have to ask other families for material support?Is it because their descendants still have something to do with royal power after 26 or even 20 centuries?As Rhee told the biographer Robert Oliver, “this ancestor-worship disease” spread even to penniless rice farmers.

So, Syngman Rhee made a decision, which is undoubtedly extremely difficult for an Asian youth.At the age of 19, he entered a middle school in Seoul run by Methodist missionaries, and gradually moved away from the Buddhist and Confucian beliefs passed down by his parents, cutting off the traditional bun on the heads of North Korean men.He read American magazines such as "McLure" and "Prospect". When he learned about Western democracy, he found that he could no longer bear the medieval Korean social and political system.In just a few months, he realized the mutation from a traditional Orientalist to a quasi-Westerner.

Rhee's next step was to devote himself to political activities against the monarchy.He edited a student newspaper at a mission high school and led demonstrations demanding the expulsion of the Japanese and the restoration of a radically reformed monarchy.He spoke impassionedly at a rally, and Seoul newspapers dubbed him "a radical and a militant."The puppet dynasty responded by cracking down on political dissidents by throwing Syngman Rhee in prison.Friends smuggled guns into the prison, an exchange of fire ensued and a guard was wounded in the leg.Syngman Rhee escaped with a companion, but was arrested soon after.

What followed was torture and suffering, brutal even by the harsh standards of Eastern torture.Syngman Rhee is unarmed and in the hands of a mob that rivals a medieval dynasty.According to Rhee's account to his biographer, Oliver, his arms were tied tightly behind his back with ribbons that tightened into his flesh. "He put two sticks between his legs and tied them tightly at the knees and ankles, then two police officers twisted the two sticks and tied triangular pieces of bamboo between his fingers, Then they were tightened together so that the bones and flesh fell off." Li Chengman spread his limbs on the floor and was beaten with a bamboo stick until his flesh was bloody.During the night, he was handcuffed and fettered.Memories and hopes are gone.This solitary and deprived prison lasted for seven months, and the warden only opened the shackles for 5 minutes a day.He was then taken to stand trial with a fellow prisoner who was also involved in the escape.Just because Syngman Rhee's pistol was not fired, his life was preserved.The companion was sentenced to death by beheading; Syngman Rhee was sentenced to life imprisonment and 100 lashes with a bamboo stick.A prison guard read that he was weak, so he spared Syngman Lee from the caning.

The reason for describing these ordeals in such detail is that it helps to understand Rhee's strong determination to fight for Korean independence in the later years (including the Korean War period).Being tortured is an experience, and only those who have survived it can understand it.The torment that Syngman Rhee experienced left him with an eternal belief.No matter who wants to solve any problem about North Korea, no matter what the conditions, as long as it does not ensure the independence of North Korea, Syngman Rhee will not consider the issue of concessions.

In short, Syngman Rhee was imprisoned for another six years, although the living conditions were not satisfactory.His frequent visits from American missionary friends brought him books, reinforcing his conviction that adherence to the ideals of Jesus Christ was essential to political freedom.In his manifestos and political pamphlets, Rhee bemoaned the selfishness of his people, who did not help each other because they did not understand the principle of "I am for all, and all for one."He believed that political liberty was achieved not through "laws and regulations" but through a change of heart among common people.

Syngman Rhee's total acceptance of Christianity was important for several reasons, some of which were not relevant at the time.Syngman Rhee has a new belief that he is an instrument through which God's will will be carried out; he cannot control his own destiny, although God's guidance is always in his hands.Half a century later, when he quarreled with U.S. officials, they routinely lashed out at him as "Christ the Messiah," so convinced of his own infallibility that he didn't want to listen to others.Their evaluation is basically correct, but there is an important additional explanation: Syngman Rhee's sense of mission does not come from him personally, but he believes that this mission is bestowed by God.

It doesn't really matter whether people believe that a person can really be an apostle of God.Syngman Rhee felt that he was such an apostle, and he would use this to influence his behavior throughout his life.

Rhee could not yet feel this: the political value of his subsequent conversion. How American public opinion viewed Asia in the first half of the 20th century was disproportionately influenced by missionaries who served in China, Korea, Japan, Indochina, and elsewhere.In the words of Ross Cohen in his classic book "Outside China Aid Group":

Missionaries from various churches in the United States introduced Western education, science and medicine to China through schools and hospitals.Protestant churches in the United States hold training courses to educate members who support the work of the church about the activities of the missionaries, which brings information about China to millions of Americans.

In the late 20s and early 40s, American public opinion's support for China's Chiang Kai-shek (who was also a converted Christian) was easily transferred to Syngman Rhee, when the fate of the two men seemed to be intertwined.The United States supports Syngman Rhee not to support an "Asian monarch", but to support a "Christian politician".

The main value of Syngman Rhee's Westernization, of immediate significance to him, was that it led to his release from prison in 1904.The scene was full of ironic and contradictory stories about North Korean politics.That year, Japan and Russia looked set to go to war, and once again North Korea feared that it was about to be the victim of a whale fight, so a faction in the North Korean puppet government decided to ask the United States to implement the " treaty of friendship".In all of North Korea, the most qualified candidate was recognized as Syngman Rhee—a political prisoner indeed, but he spoke English, understood the American system, and was a Christian.

In this way, Syngman Rhee was released from prison, had three months to rest and recover, and was sent to the United States as a "special envoy", but he received very limited support.The dominant faction in the North Korean government is willing to accept the economic benefits of Japanese control of North Korea, while the weaker faction that promoted Rhee's mission wants North Korea to be a more independent player.Unbeknownst to both factions, the issue of American intervention in the Russo-Japanese conflict was settled.President Theodore Roosevelt admired Japan's "strength and energy," and he accepted the advice of his advisers that North Korea was "not fit" for self-government.Roosevelt's primary goal in the East was to maintain American control over the Philippines, which he had just captured from the Spaniards, and Roosevelt believed that the United States had a "manifest destiny" to bring the Philippines into the modern world.In this way, Roosevelt made a deal with Japan: Roosevelt supported Japan's claim that it had "special interests" in Korea and "Manchuria"; in return, Japan would not touch the idea of ​​the Philippines.From the perspective of the practical interests of imperialism, this deal is beneficial to the United States. Once Japan wants to seize the Philippines, the United States has no military power to keep it.In Roosevelt's memoirs, he offers another explanation:
True, the treaty enshrined that North Korea should remain independent, but North Korea itself was powerless to enforce the treaty.As for envisioning any other country doing for the North Koreans what they are completely powerless to do without their own interests being threatened, that is impossible.

Syngman Rhee was 29 years old at the time, and he knew nothing about all this. What he was about to face was his first baptism in the reality of major power diplomacy.He was only given enough money to travel to Kobe, Japan, where he had to stop temporarily (as well as in Honolulu, and in San Francisco) in order to raise funds to continue his "mission."North Korean pro-Japanese diplomatic envoys in Washington refused to arrange any official introduction for him, and Rhee could only rely on his connections in the Methodist Church to obtain an audience from the aging US Secretary of State John Hay.John Hay made a cautious and solemn statement: "As long as the opportunity arises, whether on behalf of myself or the US government, I will do my best to fulfill the obligations stipulated in the treaty."

By this time, Japan and Russia had been engaged in a brief but intense naval battle.Both sides realized that it would be futile to continue the fight, so they accepted Roosevelt's arrangement to hold peace talks at his summer residence in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York.After John Hay's arrangement, in the summer of 1905, Syngman Rhee finally visited Roosevelt in Oyster Bay and appealed to the United States to support North Korea's independence.Roosevelt said a lot of polite but ambiguous words to Syngman Rhee.As Syngman Rhee recalled years later, Roosevelt said he "would be happy to do anything for your country," but any request had to go through formal diplomatic channels.Roosevelt did not tell Syngman Rhee two things.At that time, Secretary of the Army William Howard Taft was on his way to Tokyo to ratify an agreement.This agreement would give the United States free control over the Philippines in return for the Japanese controlling "Manchuria" and Korea.Plus, Roosevelt knew full well that the pro-Japanese North Korean embassy in Washington would do nothing to interfere with the deal. (A few months later, the formal Russian-Japanese treaty was signed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire under Roosevelt's auspices, giving Japan de facto control over Korea.)
Roosevelt's ambiguous words sent Syngman Rhee elated to Washington, but the North Korean diplomatic envoy rudely refused to see him and ordered the guard to "throw him out" if he came again.Thus, Syngman Rhee's mission ended tragically.Syngman Rhee fell victim to America's duplicity and his own government's willingness to accept Japanese domination for economic gain.

Years later, Rhee said those frenzied weeks left a permanent scar on his perception of American integrity.Whether in formal treaty language or what diplomats say, it can be trusted that the United States will only defend what it believes to be its highest interests.Syngman Rhee's church "friends" also don't want to change American politics. "Just accept it," they told him again and again.

The Japanese officially turned Korea into a "protectorate" and renamed it "Chosen" and declared that Japan would govern Korea as a province.The United States and other countries withdrew their diplomatic missions from Seoul.North Korea as a country no longer exists.

(End of this chapter)