Korea Research Paper

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We know from our reading and from the lectures that both of these men were very strong willed and wanted nothing more than to unify Korea. The governments of both the North and the South forcefully proclaimed their determination to unify the country under their respective regimes. We can say that this struggle between these men would have no choice but to have great influence on the future of Korea. Syngman Rhee relied heavily on the United States and the United Nations for weapons, supplies, finances and soldiers, hoping for the United States help where it was needed. Kim Il-Sung on the other hand was in accord with Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin and China's Mao Zedong.
Born in 1875 in Korea where he spent his early life practicing Confucianism, …show more content…

With his parents they were forced to flee to Manchuria in the 1920s to flee the Japanese occupation of Korea. Kim would be educated in the language of Chinese, become a Korean freedom fighter which would help him in this attempt to fight Japanese. He would eventually take the name Il-sung and would forever be known as Kim Il-Sung. Kim would eventually relocate to the Soviet Union for special training, where he joined the Communist Party. He would stay in the Soviet Union until the end of World War 11. Like Rhee, Kim was away from Korea for a very long time. When Kim finally returned to Korea in 1945, the country was divided by the Soviets and the United States. In 1948, Kim Il Sung, proclaims North Korea as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, denying the legitimacy of South Korea and claiming sovereignty over the entire Korean Peninsula. Kim also sought to reunify all of Korea but under his own Communist leadership. “Moscow rewarded Kim's loyalty by making him the leader of the Korean People's Republic, implying that he should be recognized as the governing authority for all of Korea. It was the first step in Kim's attempt to make himself the ultimate ruler of the whole peninsula, if possible, or at least the all-powerful leader of a North Korean state.” (Dallek) In 1949 and early 1950, it seemed that he might have more support among the Korean people than the Syngman

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