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Today is the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. 5 generations of war. I want to give some historical context and my thoughts
CW: mentions of SA, genocide, war, and violence
CW: mentions of SA, genocide, war, and violence
In 1948, Korea was planning to unite under a people’s republic. The American military caught wind of this and squash any sort of unification. In the south, they implanted a pro-US ally, Sygmann Rhee. The revolutionaries were driven underground or massacred (see Jeju)
The American occupation of the south continued. In 1950, the Korean War had began. In a three-year span, the US dropped 600,000 gallons of naplam, destroyed 22 of the 24 cities in the north and massacred many during and after the war.
In one of The infamous massacres to happen during the Korean War, the US Calvary murdered a large group of Korean refugees. The No Gun Ri massacre. The US military still hasn’t been held accountable.
In the coming years after the ceasefire in 1953, the US military would continue its occupation of the south. Thousands of korean women were forced into sex work for the US military and Park Chung-hee, another pro-US dictator, endorsed this.
Under the dictatorships of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, thousands of people were killed, imprisoned and had disappeared. Workers rights were suppressed and anyone suspected of speaking favorably towards the DPRK or critically towards the dictatorships were arrested.
The United States had sought to bring down the DPRK. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the DPRK was hit hard by the loss and droughts had hit the country. The United States, under Clinton, had refused to send any type of aid or assistance.
The DPRK would face heavy economic sanctions from the US, continuing to this very day. Many people die from the crippling sanctions that the US imposes every year. Economic sanctions are an act of war and the US is the perpetrator.
After the Korean War, thousands of children were sent to other countries primarily of the US through adoption. American NGOs like holt international became profitable off of the adoptions of Korean children.
In the present day in the south, the decades of US occupation and influence has turned the south into hyper-capitalistic. Economic inequities are detrimental and thousands are in poverty, especially after the 1997 IMF financial crisis.
Large corporation conglomerate chaebols such as Samsung, Hyundai have benefited greatly from US occupation while thousands of people, especially the elderly and disabled people live in poverty and are subjected to exploitation from human traffickers.
For me personally, large sections of my family history are lost and I don’t know if I have any living relatives in Korea. My dad and aunt were one of the many korean children who were adopted and sent to America in the 70’s and 80’s.
There have been talks and progress made of reunification but the United States has been a large obstacle in these efforts. The US needs to end the Korean War, dismantle and demilitarize all of its military bases/THAAD bases and pay for the crimes they have committed.
forgot to put this in the last tweet: The United States also needs to end its economic sanctions against the DPRK
