The Effects Of Authoritarianism In South Korea

Before 1945 Korea was controlled by Japan. After the second World War, USA and Soviet Union split Korea in t two. This cause the divide in the country and another divide in the ideals. USA was preaching capitalism and democracy. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, was looking to spread communism. North Korea invaded South Korea to try to form a stable, united Korea as it was before the end of the Second World War. USA acted decisively to defend the South to stop the threat of communism and to continue their policy of containment. They did not want communism to spread.

→ President Reagan had basic ideas about the danger of appeasement and the evils of communism. He regarded South Korea as a stalwart ally and a valiant symbol of resistance to communism. Therefore, Reagan ignored President Chun’s record of antidemocratic activities (p.113). In Reagan’s view, Chun resembled former President Park in terms of his strong political leadership, anti-Communist commitment, and emphasis on economic advancement. Also, Reagan administration was satisfied with the consolidation of a stable situation under President Chun (p.116).

Did you know that Americans were involved in another country’s civil war? As a part of the Cold War, the Korean War had started when North Korea invaded South Korea. Lasting from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, the country of Korea, to this day, has failed to unify. Because the United States underestimated the war, most Americans barely acknowledged it. However, the Korean War changed the way Americans viewed life during the 1950s by opening doors to social advancement, impacting the economy, and preparing Americans for future conflicts.

We all start off as citizens that learn to obey the law established by the government and regard them as the high power that is responsible for protecting our nation and doing what’s best to improve the state of our country. However, my initial belief was proven to be wrong after personally being deceived by the government (a presidential figure, in my case). To give a little background about myself, I was born in Seoul, South Korea and moved to Canada at the age of seven. Despite leaving my home country at a relatively young age, it did not affect my pride in being a Korean and how much I care about the country. My whole family is from Korea, so I willingly learned their rich history of how the past generations managed to build themselves back up from the invasion of Japan and the Korean War. The respect that I had for this country wavered when I heard the news that the South Korean President, Park Geun-hye, doled out executive actions influenced by her long-time friend, Choi Soon-sil. Choi Soon-sil was not (and never was) involved with the government and some sources say that she had links to a cult. Allegedly, Choi Soon-sil wrote the presidential speeches delivering what she wanted to propose to the country, and was even involved

The government structure of North Korea has its existence in one man, Kim Jong Un. It existed in his father, Kim Jong Il, before him, and in his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, before him. North Korea has one of the few successful hereditary dictatorships based on a personalistic regime where the leaders are worshipped as almost a deity (after Kim Il-sung’s death he was made “eternal president”) creating a dynastic transfer of power (Aoki, 2012). In China the one party of the Chinese Communist Party will rule as an Authoritarian body over the nation, but in North Korea the sole power rest dangerously in the arms of one person. Some of the reason for this dissimilarity between the two government structures lies in the country’s differing political cultures.

Under Yi Sŏng-Gye’s son King Sejong, considered Korea’s greatest ruler, inventions like the rain gauge, the use of a movable type, and the birth of Korean alphabet called Hangeul, still in use today, surfaced. (Piddock, 27-28) They ruled the entire peninsula for 500 years. Then Korea was annexed by neighbors Japan in 1910. Korea continued to be under Japan until 1945 when it was liberated at the end of World War II. (“North Korea”, Culturegrams) “With the defeat of Japan in 1945, the Allies agreed to divide the Korean Peninsula between the Soviet Union and the United States at the thirty-eighth parallel as a temporary measure.” (Piddock, 30) The Soviet Union received the Northern part of Korea, and the United States the South. “.. Soviet forces closed off northern Korea at the thirty-eighth parallel and placed Korean communists in power there.” Evidently, North Korea was bound to turn communist.

The Republic of Korea has a liberal democratic political system. South Koreas political foundation resides in the sovereignty of the people and the responsibility to maintain every citizen’s welfare. Currently the president of South Korea is Park Geun-hye. The 11th and first female president was elected on February 25th, 2013. With Korea’s limited 5 year presidency she has until

Park was appointed Vice Chairperson of Grand National Park and later won election as the parties Chairperson. On December 19, 2012 Park became South Koreas first female President. Park was instated as the Nations acting First Lady. “Park continued to flourish in the South Korean political world,” said the Biography Website. She later served as a member of the National Assembly and was re-elected four times, serving in five consecutive national assemblies. Park is named “Queen of Elections”. During Parks presidency she has eased the tension between North Korea and South Korea and are working on engagement. Park Guen-hye can be as powerful as men or even more

The next nation that will be discussed is South Korea, whose legal tradition finds its origins from Japan, but is now becoming more American in nature due to increased globalization. Korea’s legal tradition was first established 4,300 ago when the Gojoseon dynasty created its own statutory law, heavily influenced by Confucianism and China’s legal system (SpringerLink and Yŏn 'guwŏn 2). (note that during the retelling of South Korea’s history, the nation will be referred to as Korea until the point at which it became separated into Northern and Southern territories). Korea maintained this particular legal tradition, and aspects of a uniquely Korean brand of Confucianism, until the 19th century. In 1894, the internally induced Kabo Reforms aimed to modernize the whole of Korea in terms of legal and administrative systems, culture, economy, and more (“Emergence of a Modern Society”). The Kabo Reforms resulted in a legal system that closely resembled Japan’s system, which followed a civil legal tradition that was heavily influenced by Germany. Korea’s transformation towards a Japanese civil law system was further intensified and completed when it became a colony of Japan in 1910. Following the defeat of Japan during World War Two, Korea gained its independence in 1945, only for the southern half of the nation to fall under American occupation until 1948, while the northern half was occupied by Soviet Russia (SpringerLink and Yŏn 'guwŏn 5). Now dubbed as South Korea, the

of Japan. Some of them like Park had been educated in Japanese schools, some had

In 1949, China fell into Mao Zedong’s communist forces. More than 500 million Chinese and 220 million soviets lived under communist rule. Japan ruled Korea from 1905 until the end of World War 2. Most Americans had barely even heard of Korea. After World War 2, Korea was divided into North and South (Brownstone and Franck p.238). On June 25th, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. North Korea wanted

During the late 19th century in Korea, the oppressed peasants and the followers of the Donghak religion revolted against the corrupted government officials and foreign forces, such as Japan and China. The movement’s significance could be seen through the peasants’ demand for reforms and the end of feudalistic society and foreign influence.

They would have heightened USA's regulation soul and impelled them significantly further to get associated with Korea. The Korean War demonstrated the degree to which the US would have gone to keep socialism from spreading. The main sign was the arrangement of Syngman Rhee in 1948 to set up a Korean People's Democratic Republic. This was noteworthy in demonstrating the American position in Korea, nearly denoting their domain and influencing their position and belief system to clear. Along these lines, they would limit the spread of socialism from North Korea into their "region" which was set apart by the Republic being

Following the Korean War, South Korea entered a period of political turmoil as its president; Rhee Syngman faced increased opposition to his authoritarian rule. In 1960, he was ousted from office during a student uprising in response to allegations of vote rigging of the vice presidential elections. A military coup immediately followed and prevented any hope for democracy from being initiated as the authoritarian military leader Park Chung Hee seized power. Although Park was criticized for his authoritarianism and dictatorial rule, his strong state-led developmental policies caused South

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be governed by a dictatorship? What laws do the citizens of a dictatorship have to follow? Who is the dictator, and what is he/she’s responsibilities? Where else in the world is dictatorship being practiced? A dictatorship is a government ruled by a dictator that grants citizens limited rights and is practiced by many countries. Today, North Korea is the most widely-discussed county that is governed by a dictatorship.