What If Korea Did Not Separate into North and South
- Judy Kim
Between North and South Korea, the Korean War undoubtedly played a pivotal role in the twentieth and twenty first century. Korean War was started in 1950 and ended in 1953. This was a turning point in Korea because it separated the two countries. In 1900s, Korea was a small and poor nation. Korean Government did not have any power to control and govern the country. Thus, Japan made Korea as their colony. However, after World War II, which ended by America bombing Japan, Japan lost their power. During that time Soviet Union and America was a strongest country in the World. The Soviet Union got the North part of Korea and America got the South part of Korea. At that time, the Soviet Union and America had different government systems. Unfortunately, Korea separated to two parts. Even now, Korea is not united in one country. Because of this, they had many hard situations and sufferings. If Korea did not separate and the war did not happen, Korea could have been a better, united country. Doing so has many benefits and positive aspects, like can share resources they need, do not need to rely on other countries incomes, starvation, and second war might happen in future
To begin with, because of the Korean War both countries suffer. Nowadays, North Korea suffers from starvation.
The figure 1 shows the evidence that North Korea has serious problem in starvation, about million people is killed because of starvation (Foster). This starvation is mostly because the farmer in North Korea they have low incentive than they work due to making more materials and crops (Myung). Additionally, While Korea was the colonial, the colonizer, Japan, stole a lot of things. The reason is that during World War II, Japan needed money and materials to fight. Thus, they used Korea’s money and assets to support their country (Myung). This is the reason that Korea lacks resources to make income. As a result, even North Korean has natural resources, South Korea need to rely on the income that comes in outside of the Korea, due to the fact that Korea lacks natural resources, like oil. Nowadays, oil price in Korea increases every year. Additionally, because of this Korean War South Korea, both spent a lot of effort to develop their country (Myung) also most of the country was destroyed and damaged, which needs money to rebuild. If the war did not happened and did not separate, then Korea did not need to suffer from starvation, did not need to put in as much effort to develop their country and did not need to rely on other countries income. Thus, Korea can have healthier and wealthier people and also can make their income by their assets.
Furthermore, if the Korean War did not happen people between two countries can believe each other. Nowadays, most of the people in Korea wish to be united. South Korea is wealthier than North Korea. If these different two countries united again they will suffer because they lived differently in the past. For example, in 2010, there was a boat accident. It was a serious problem to people who was related to it. The boat sunk because North Korea attacked that boat (Factmonster). This made people to fear and be scared of a second Korean War. Additionally because of this separation, in Korea they are concerned because of the nuclear weapon that North Korea has, it is uncertain that North Korea will continued to hold a nuclear program (Factmonster). In 2010 November 23rd, there was a big issue in Korea and this news caught most of the people’s eyes. The North Korea bombed Korea, Yeon Pyeong Island and kills 2 people (Rose). The Figure 3 shows the situation after North Korea Bombed South Korea. This issue made unbelief between two countries. Consequently, if there were no any war between south and North Korea, the society will be stable.
Lastly, if there was no fight between South and North Korea, they could have one governing system. This is the biggest reason that North and South Korea is separated. After Japan loses their power and stop colonizing Korea, America came to Korea and Soviet Union came to North Korea. America and Soviet Union had different government. After that two countries influences North and South Korea is separated because they have conflict suggestions about governing the country. Even though, America made Korea as a republic of Korea (US department), America helped South Korea to have wider area from 38th parallel (landscaper), and share same interests. It will be better when two divided Korea has united and one system of governing. Nowadays, South and North Korea do not think them as a united country (Korea’s) However, if Korea did not separate into two part and South and North can unite it faster and easier.
In summary, yes, If Korea did not separate and the war did not happen, Korea could have been a better, united country. Doing so has many benefits and positive aspects, like can share resources they need, do not need to rely on other countries incomes, starvation, and second war might happen in future. In addition, Korea can have a higher economical value because they need to develop their country from the damages made by the War. However, if it was the one united country we could share many things like money or natural resources. To sum up, Korea needs to be unified for a more stable country and society.
- Judy Kim
Between North and South Korea, the Korean War undoubtedly played a pivotal role in the twentieth and twenty first century. Korean War was started in 1950 and ended in 1953. This was a turning point in Korea because it separated the two countries. In 1900s, Korea was a small and poor nation. Korean Government did not have any power to control and govern the country. Thus, Japan made Korea as their colony. However, after World War II, which ended by America bombing Japan, Japan lost their power. During that time Soviet Union and America was a strongest country in the World. The Soviet Union got the North part of Korea and America got the South part of Korea. At that time, the Soviet Union and America had different government systems. Unfortunately, Korea separated to two parts. Even now, Korea is not united in one country. Because of this, they had many hard situations and sufferings. If Korea did not separate and the war did not happen, Korea could have been a better, united country. Doing so has many benefits and positive aspects, like can share resources they need, do not need to rely on other countries incomes, starvation, and second war might happen in future
To begin with, because of the Korean War both countries suffer. Nowadays, North Korea suffers from starvation.
The figure 1 shows the evidence that North Korea has serious problem in starvation, about million people is killed because of starvation (Foster). This starvation is mostly because the farmer in North Korea they have low incentive than they work due to making more materials and crops (Myung). Additionally, While Korea was the colonial, the colonizer, Japan, stole a lot of things. The reason is that during World War II, Japan needed money and materials to fight. Thus, they used Korea’s money and assets to support their country (Myung). This is the reason that Korea lacks resources to make income. As a result, even North Korean has natural resources, South Korea need to rely on the income that comes in outside of the Korea, due to the fact that Korea lacks natural resources, like oil. Nowadays, oil price in Korea increases every year. Additionally, because of this Korean War South Korea, both spent a lot of effort to develop their country (Myung) also most of the country was destroyed and damaged, which needs money to rebuild. If the war did not happened and did not separate, then Korea did not need to suffer from starvation, did not need to put in as much effort to develop their country and did not need to rely on other countries income. Thus, Korea can have healthier and wealthier people and also can make their income by their assets.
Furthermore, if the Korean War did not happen people between two countries can believe each other. Nowadays, most of the people in Korea wish to be united. South Korea is wealthier than North Korea. If these different two countries united again they will suffer because they lived differently in the past. For example, in 2010, there was a boat accident. It was a serious problem to people who was related to it. The boat sunk because North Korea attacked that boat (Factmonster). This made people to fear and be scared of a second Korean War. Additionally because of this separation, in Korea they are concerned because of the nuclear weapon that North Korea has, it is uncertain that North Korea will continued to hold a nuclear program (Factmonster). In 2010 November 23rd, there was a big issue in Korea and this news caught most of the people’s eyes. The North Korea bombed Korea, Yeon Pyeong Island and kills 2 people (Rose). The Figure 3 shows the situation after North Korea Bombed South Korea. This issue made unbelief between two countries. Consequently, if there were no any war between south and North Korea, the society will be stable.
Lastly, if there was no fight between South and North Korea, they could have one governing system. This is the biggest reason that North and South Korea is separated. After Japan loses their power and stop colonizing Korea, America came to Korea and Soviet Union came to North Korea. America and Soviet Union had different government. After that two countries influences North and South Korea is separated because they have conflict suggestions about governing the country. Even though, America made Korea as a republic of Korea (US department), America helped South Korea to have wider area from 38th parallel (landscaper), and share same interests. It will be better when two divided Korea has united and one system of governing. Nowadays, South and North Korea do not think them as a united country (Korea’s) However, if Korea did not separate into two part and South and North can unite it faster and easier.
In summary, yes, If Korea did not separate and the war did not happen, Korea could have been a better, united country. Doing so has many benefits and positive aspects, like can share resources they need, do not need to rely on other countries incomes, starvation, and second war might happen in future. In addition, Korea can have a higher economical value because they need to develop their country from the damages made by the War. However, if it was the one united country we could share many things like money or natural resources. To sum up, Korea needs to be unified for a more stable country and society.
What if Korean did not separate
- Isaac Kim
The Korean War had occurred from 1950 to 1953. This war caused the Korea to separate into North and South Korea. When the America dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, Japan released all the colonies. However, Korea didn’t have any ability to govern the whole country, so that the America and the Soviet Union came to help us. The Soviet Union took north part of the Korea, and the America took south part, but since both countries had different governmental system, they became enemies, so unfortunately, Korea separated into two, and this causes the Korean War (Web Path). What if Korea didn’t have war? Korean division was the great turning point for Korea in many areas like economy, politics, and religion, if there was no division between the North and South Korea, and then the whole Korean economy would be better than now, since North Korea holds a lot of resources. For the political part, Korea would be communism, because Korea was more affected by China before Japanese colonial era, but it was not beneficial since Korea was a small country. Last thing is religion; Korea’s main religion during Korean War was Buddhism and Christianity. But Japan didn’t please with these two religions, they prohibited them and let Korea serve their emperor. From those information, it is hard to tell that division is good or bad, since the Korean division has positive and negative.
First, economy would have been more stable. However, it is really hard to say that Korean economy would be more stable even if Korea didn’t separate, because the political issues strongly influence the economy in Korea. For example, today’s North Korea, which is communism like China. Their economy has almost collapse, and reason is that communism is working for countries, which are rich, and their territory are big, but North Korea was the opposite of these facts. Also, even if we unite, we can’t cover North Korean economic problem. So if Korea didn’t have the division, then we don’t have to worry about covering the economic problem of North Korea, because during that time, North and South part of Korea had the same economic standard, but it was poor (Figure 1), as figure 1 has showed, in 1972, both north and south had almost same economy GDP, because Korean War has happened after the Japanese colonial era. During Japanese colonial era, Japan took all the resources and the money to their country for preparing for World War II (Myung), this caused critical economic drops to Korea. Fortunately, Japan released all the colonies by the bomb on Hiroshima, and then the Americans and the Soviet Union came to Korea to overtake us, but I think it was an opportunity for South Korea, since the America came to South Korea. South Korea faced the economic boom, and later it became rich than North Korea (Paul). By those facts, we can infer that economy would be stable if Korea did not separate. Though, it is impossible to reunite, because of the gap of economy standard.
Second, our politic would have been communism, but just as I mentioned on the first subtopic, communism would be the critical problem for Korea, since Korea was a poor country, by Japan’s plunder to Korean we had really small territory to retain our life. So it is really hard to say that division was bad. The reason for Korea would be communism is that Korea was highly influenced by China during that time (Korean War FAQ). Before Japan colonized Korea, Korea only had good relationship with China, through trading; from that time Korea started to accept Chinese political morality. However, China was also colonized by Japan and other 7 countries. This highly disrupted relationship between Korean and China. Chinese economy also dropped since it accepted opium from British and made unfair treaty with all foreign nations, as figure 2 has mentioned workers are not doing their work (Figure 2). Opium is a kind of drug which can make people to lose their mind, remove judgment system from brain. Opium caused people to not working, so eventually it became an opium war between China and British. So if China was still a strong country, then there are high possibilities that Korea would be communism. Harry Truman said “In my generation, this was not the first occasion when the strong had attacked the weak….Communism was acting in Korea just as Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese had acted ten, fifteen, and twenty years earlier. I felt certain that if South Korea was allowed to fall, Communist leaders would be emboldened to override nations closer to our own shores." This quote shows the political situation during Korean War that communism was affective in Korea.
Third, even if Korea separated, the religion didn’t change at all. Korean main religions were Buddhism and Christianity. Person who came to Korea to spread Christianity was Appenzeller, who was the first missionary to Korea (Appenzeller); so after that Christianity became a main religion in Korea same as Buddhism, but Christianity was always persecuted by the nobles. When Japan colonized Korea, it became worth. Almost all the Christians were killed by Japan, but fortunately, many Christianity survived from that tragedy. So until today, Christianity became the main religion in Korea, many believers are really “crazy” on Christianity (Kim 136), but in North Korea, the persecution of Christianity got worst, because of the communism (Christian). If North Korea accepted Christianity, then there will be no tragedies as today. Like: Korean battleship attacked by North Korea, from these scandal 46 navy soldiers died. Yeonpyong Island attacked by North Korea. Those two are the main tragedies in current Korea that occurred by the North Korea. Now both North and South Korea have different notion about reunite. North Korea wants reunite by military force; meanwhile, South Korea wants to reunite by peaceful way. The reason why both countries have different views are because these are somewhat relate to religion.
In summary, if Korea did not split, then the whole economy, politics and religion will be dramatically different as today. Korea would be a communist country by Chinese power, but this is not affective, since Korea is a small country. However, the economics would be more stable if Korea did not separate, because no separation means no war, and also means nothing to spend on. On the religion, it may not have great change, since Korea has a long time traditions and pride on Korean religions. So Korean division has positive and negative effects, it is hard to decide it is good or not.
- Isaac Kim
The Korean War had occurred from 1950 to 1953. This war caused the Korea to separate into North and South Korea. When the America dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, Japan released all the colonies. However, Korea didn’t have any ability to govern the whole country, so that the America and the Soviet Union came to help us. The Soviet Union took north part of the Korea, and the America took south part, but since both countries had different governmental system, they became enemies, so unfortunately, Korea separated into two, and this causes the Korean War (Web Path). What if Korea didn’t have war? Korean division was the great turning point for Korea in many areas like economy, politics, and religion, if there was no division between the North and South Korea, and then the whole Korean economy would be better than now, since North Korea holds a lot of resources. For the political part, Korea would be communism, because Korea was more affected by China before Japanese colonial era, but it was not beneficial since Korea was a small country. Last thing is religion; Korea’s main religion during Korean War was Buddhism and Christianity. But Japan didn’t please with these two religions, they prohibited them and let Korea serve their emperor. From those information, it is hard to tell that division is good or bad, since the Korean division has positive and negative.
First, economy would have been more stable. However, it is really hard to say that Korean economy would be more stable even if Korea didn’t separate, because the political issues strongly influence the economy in Korea. For example, today’s North Korea, which is communism like China. Their economy has almost collapse, and reason is that communism is working for countries, which are rich, and their territory are big, but North Korea was the opposite of these facts. Also, even if we unite, we can’t cover North Korean economic problem. So if Korea didn’t have the division, then we don’t have to worry about covering the economic problem of North Korea, because during that time, North and South part of Korea had the same economic standard, but it was poor (Figure 1), as figure 1 has showed, in 1972, both north and south had almost same economy GDP, because Korean War has happened after the Japanese colonial era. During Japanese colonial era, Japan took all the resources and the money to their country for preparing for World War II (Myung), this caused critical economic drops to Korea. Fortunately, Japan released all the colonies by the bomb on Hiroshima, and then the Americans and the Soviet Union came to Korea to overtake us, but I think it was an opportunity for South Korea, since the America came to South Korea. South Korea faced the economic boom, and later it became rich than North Korea (Paul). By those facts, we can infer that economy would be stable if Korea did not separate. Though, it is impossible to reunite, because of the gap of economy standard.
Second, our politic would have been communism, but just as I mentioned on the first subtopic, communism would be the critical problem for Korea, since Korea was a poor country, by Japan’s plunder to Korean we had really small territory to retain our life. So it is really hard to say that division was bad. The reason for Korea would be communism is that Korea was highly influenced by China during that time (Korean War FAQ). Before Japan colonized Korea, Korea only had good relationship with China, through trading; from that time Korea started to accept Chinese political morality. However, China was also colonized by Japan and other 7 countries. This highly disrupted relationship between Korean and China. Chinese economy also dropped since it accepted opium from British and made unfair treaty with all foreign nations, as figure 2 has mentioned workers are not doing their work (Figure 2). Opium is a kind of drug which can make people to lose their mind, remove judgment system from brain. Opium caused people to not working, so eventually it became an opium war between China and British. So if China was still a strong country, then there are high possibilities that Korea would be communism. Harry Truman said “In my generation, this was not the first occasion when the strong had attacked the weak….Communism was acting in Korea just as Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese had acted ten, fifteen, and twenty years earlier. I felt certain that if South Korea was allowed to fall, Communist leaders would be emboldened to override nations closer to our own shores." This quote shows the political situation during Korean War that communism was affective in Korea.
Third, even if Korea separated, the religion didn’t change at all. Korean main religions were Buddhism and Christianity. Person who came to Korea to spread Christianity was Appenzeller, who was the first missionary to Korea (Appenzeller); so after that Christianity became a main religion in Korea same as Buddhism, but Christianity was always persecuted by the nobles. When Japan colonized Korea, it became worth. Almost all the Christians were killed by Japan, but fortunately, many Christianity survived from that tragedy. So until today, Christianity became the main religion in Korea, many believers are really “crazy” on Christianity (Kim 136), but in North Korea, the persecution of Christianity got worst, because of the communism (Christian). If North Korea accepted Christianity, then there will be no tragedies as today. Like: Korean battleship attacked by North Korea, from these scandal 46 navy soldiers died. Yeonpyong Island attacked by North Korea. Those two are the main tragedies in current Korea that occurred by the North Korea. Now both North and South Korea have different notion about reunite. North Korea wants reunite by military force; meanwhile, South Korea wants to reunite by peaceful way. The reason why both countries have different views are because these are somewhat relate to religion.
In summary, if Korea did not split, then the whole economy, politics and religion will be dramatically different as today. Korea would be a communist country by Chinese power, but this is not affective, since Korea is a small country. However, the economics would be more stable if Korea did not separate, because no separation means no war, and also means nothing to spend on. On the religion, it may not have great change, since Korea has a long time traditions and pride on Korean religions. So Korean division has positive and negative effects, it is hard to decide it is good or not.