A PRIMER OF THE DIVISION
apan has a very significant role to play in the division of Korea. Imperialism was primarily the reason Korea was under Japan for a little more than35 years. Going back through history, one could recall than Japan was widely considered as an ally of the western countries, often seen too as a rival.
In 1905, the war between Japan and Russia ended. In effect, the US sealed the conclusion of the war by awarding Korea to Japan (Armstrong, 2003). Initially, Korea simply served as a protectorate of Japan but eventually expanded as a full colony. Korean endured their colonial status with Japan, thinking that once the War in the Pacific ends, they will already regain their independence back. However, this has not been the case.
Almost 35 years prior to the culmination of World War II, Korea was already a colony of Japan. From 1910 until 1945, Korea has been an annex of Japan (Kim, 1995). This incident came immediately after the Russia-Japan war ended in 1905. In 1943, before World War II ended members of the Allied Forces converged to decide the fate of Korea (Ebrey, 2009). However, the US thought that Korea being a colony of Japan for so long might not still be prepared to experience their freedom. Thus, the US along with the Soviet Union decided that Korea’s independence will be awarded only until both countries have determined that Korea is already fully capable of self-governance. In effect, both the US and the Soviet Union has decided to divide Korea.
A division of the North and South Korea was under the authorship of officers Dean Rusk and Charles Bonsesteel (Hasegawa, 2005). This is demarcated by the 38th Parallel, which divided the peninsula into two. This was presented to the Korean people in the US even before the announced that Japan has been seized and captured. The announcement of the 38th parallel was made August 10, 1945. Five days after, the US declared the war with Japan as over.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE DIVISION
The Koreans immigrants from Russia, and the rest of the other immigrants sees hope in the United States (Hammal, 2010). However, in the case of the Jews from Russia they think that the US will provide them with safety and security that has been deprived of them. They see their lives being saved if they leave their country to go to the US following the bloody persecutions of the Jews in Russian territory. For some other immigrants like the Koreans, for example, they see the US as a land of promise and opportunities. When life became harder for many people in North Korea because of the system of the Communist government that was prevailing in the country, many decided to leave because they wanted more for themselves. They wanted to live in affluence, and they wanted to be independent of government that controls the way the people lives. The US promises democracy where the people are free.
Abraham Bisno came from a country where Jews are being persecuted for no known reason (Cho, 1967). He lived in fear and poverty. Coming to the US and seeing how much of his life has changed because the land of refuge he went into offers that the opportunity to succeed and changed his life for the better, Bisno converted to Socialism. He saw how much he could prosper in the country that allows people to live openly and participate freely in an open market without having to fear for their security or their property. The US is a haven of opportunity for Bisno and many other immigrants from countries where freedom and opportunities were limited. He saw how much different his life in Russia was to the life he started living in the US. HE was motivated to grab the opportunity and the promise that the US offers to immigrants like him who lived in the dark when he was still a child in Russia.
PLAYERS IN THE DIVISION OF KOREA
Isolationism in 1930’s worries President Roosevelt because it could lead to great financial crisis in the future (Oberdorfer, 1997). True enough this was a precursor to the Great Depression, which was one of the toughest times in the US history. In addition, Roosevelt believed that it will create a negative impression of US because it fails to keep its pledge to safeguard democracy. The US tried to focus on its own personal affairs particularly addressing economic issues that put great pressure to their economy. The Great Depression was something that alarms Roosevelt because he knew that it could be used against him. So instead of participating in global conflict and affairs, Roosevelt centers the US’s attention on reforms and policies deemed to make the US financially capable.
The US passed the Selective Service Act that would enlist men to join the US troops that would fight the two-front wars. This act ensures that there are discrimination based on race and color to maximize the number of men who would join the government’s cause. Automotive and car manufacturing facilities were converted to making fighter planes and tanks. The US mainly focused all its efforts on Japan in the Pacific. After declaring war with the Germans upon the request of the British forces, the US concentrated on putting an end to Japan’s hegemony and ordering for the use of the atomic bomb. On the other hands, the Germans were dealt with by the British troops only with the support of the US in terms of general warfare and ammunitions.
It united the American society as one nation regardless of demographic factors of gender, religion, race and skin color. However, many thought that the war was pointless and a waste of time, money and life. After the war, the US felt the lost. Although they were declared winners it never felt that way. Lives were lost; properties were destroyed and the people’s morale was down. The US invested in a war that had no meaning and wasted enormous amount of time, money and lives in a war that could have been averted is the US stuck to it isolationism.
When Japan has become too much to handle, Truman decided to use the atomic bomb. The Japanese forces have become too powerful, and they need to be stopped before it gets way blown out of proportion. The use of the atomic bomb was not carefully planned nor was it carefully thought of. Many innocent lives were involved. In addition, the effect of the bomb can still be felt, and it left a lasting scar that people still feels to this day.
ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE DIVISION
The problem is that education has become more and more expensive in the South Korea and has been limited in the North (Buzo, 2002). Although there are a number of universities and colleges that offer different courses in different fields, it is not a matter of the number of educational institutions offering the course but it is more on the capacity and accessibility that consumers have over the service. It is not estranged to people that among the requirements for the industries offering high job vacancies is a diploma that would certify that they have completed the program. If this cost a lot, as it is in the present, people could not easily afford it. They would settle for an alternative, or they would opt not to avail it which will have a significant effect on their employment potential.
Thus, the question on putting more people in universities can help augment the problem in the unemployment is very possible. Majority of the jobs that are open are those that require educational completion. If people get the needed requirement to qualify for a job, which in this case is an education, the unemployed will have the opportunity to compete in the market.
RELATING THROUGH A COURSE IN HISTORY
The case of Korea is no less different as with what the US did with he Native American in the US (Barry, 2012). They tricked them into signing a Treaty that make them believe that it in the best interest of the people that the conquest and alliance with the US are what is best for them. In 1868, the US through the Fort Laramie Treaty granted the Sioux Nation the right to use and occupy the Great Sioux Reservation, including the Black Hills. The treaty supports that no other treaty or agreement shall remove this right from the Sioux nation unless it is validated and agreed upon by at least ¾ of the adult male Sioux population. However, in 1877 an act was ratified by the US Congress wherein it states that the Sioux Nation surrenders their right to the Black Hills, including their right to hunt unseeded territories in exchange for rations provided to the members of the Sioux Nation as long as it is deemed needed or necessary.
The Act of 1877 was not recognized by the entire Sioux Nation. They considered this a breach of the Fort Laramie Treaty. Thus, in 1920 after a Just Compensation Act was ratified the members of the Sioux Nation tried to question the validity of the Act of 1877 suggesting that it was a violation of their right to the Fifth Amendment. However, their case was dismissed by the Court of Claims in 1942 suggesting that the amount paid in exchange for the property in question was an adequate price for the Black Hills. However, this decision was reversed when the Indian Claims Commission Act was created in 1946. It said that the Congress failed justly to compute for the appropriate value of the relinquished property. The Sioux Nation was awarded $ 17.5 million without interest as damages.
The 1877 Act provided that the government will take a property that rightfully belonged to the Sioux as documented in the Fort Laramie Treaty in return that the government will provide compensation for the Sioux Nation. This comes in the form of ration that they will receive as replacement of their tribal territory. However, the act did not undergo legal consideration because the backgrounder has not been sufficed. In addition, the process of how the property was acquired was unconstitutional. The law supports that in cases like this where the government will take a private property, it should pay for the property in equivalent to the actual value of the property during the time of acquisition. But this did not happen during the signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty. Instead, The Congress did not provide reason enough consideration for the members of the Sioux Tribe to decide. The exchange of the ration for the property can also be called unjust because there was no specific amount or value of the ration to serve as payment for the property. It is then not sure if the amount of the ration is enough to cover for the amount of the property that was taken from the tribe.
Therefore, there was nothing in the decision, and the act of the Congress can be described as a congressional decision because the value of the ration that was given in exchange for the land can testify that it was the exact or equivalent value of the land. Instead, it appears that the exchange was just as an attempt to pressure the Sioux to give in to the demands of the Congress. It can be said that this action of the Congress was controlling and manipulative. That even if a large amount of money has already been spent on the part of the congress by giving out the daily ration, they could not claim that it is unfair on the side of the government.
Work Cited
Armstrong, C. (2003). The North Korean Revolution: 1945-50. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Barry, M. (2012). The U.S. and the 1945 Division of Korea. Retrieved 8 June 2014 from http://www.nknews.org/2012/02/the-u-s-and-the-1945-division-of-korea/
Buzo, A. (2002). The Making of Modern Korea. London: Rutledge Publishers
Cho, S. (1967). Korea in World Politics, 1940-1950: An evaluation of American responsibility. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press
Ebrey, P. (2009). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History From 1600. Vol. II: Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Publishers.
Hammal, R. (2010). Destined to Fail? How the division of Korea led to the Korean War. Retrieved 8 June 2014 from http://www.historytoday.com/rowena-hammal/destined-fail-how-division-korea-led-korean-war-0
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Held, D. (2006). Models of Democracy. . Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Kim, H. (1995). The division of Korea and the alliance making process: internationalization of internal conflict and internalization of international struggle, 1945-1948. Lanham, MD: University Press of America
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Stiglitz, J. (2013). The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future. New York: Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W.
