What was korea like after ww2

In all, some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives in what many in the U. The Korean peninsula is still divided today. In August , two young aides at the State Department divided the Korean peninsula in half along the 38th parallel.

The Russians occupied the area north of the line and the United States occupied the area to its south. By the end of the decade, two new states had formed on the peninsula. In the south, the anti-communist dictator Syngman Rhee enjoyed the reluctant support of the American government; in the north, the communist dictator Kim Il Sung enjoyed the slightly more enthusiastic support of the Soviets.

Neither dictator was content to remain on his side of the 38th parallel, however, and border skirmishes were common. Nearly 10, North and South Korean soldiers were killed in battle before the war even began.

Even so, the North Korean invasion came as an alarming surprise to American officials. As far as they were concerned, this was not simply a border dispute between two unstable dictatorships on the other side of the globe. Instead, many feared it was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world. For this reason, nonintervention was not considered an option by many top decision makers. As the North Korean army pushed into Seoul, the South Korean capital, the United States readied its troops for a war against communism itself.

At first, the war was a defensive one to get the communists out of South Korea, and it went badly for the Allies. Also, it was one of the hottest and driest summers on record, and desperately thirsty American soldiers were often forced to drink water from rice paddies that had been fertilized with human waste.

As a result, dangerous intestinal diseases and other illnesses were a constant threat. By the end of the summer, President Truman and General Douglas MacArthur , the commander in charge of the Asian theater, had decided on a new set of war aims. Initially, this new strategy was a success.

This was something that President Truman and his advisers decidedly did not want: They were sure that such a war would lead to Soviet aggression in Europe, the deployment of atomic weapons and millions of senseless deaths.

As President Truman looked for a way to prevent war with the Chinese, MacArthur did all he could to provoke it. For Truman, this letter was the last straw. On April 11, the president fired the general for insubordination. Land reform was an emotionally charged issue. The South Korean.

Still, it was only during the Korean War that this was carried out. Under the land reform, property holdings were limited to 7. While this initially left them with a large debt, the high rate of inflation made it easy to pay off. The result was dramatic; in , 3 percent of landowners owned 64 percent of the farmland; but in , the top 6 percent of landowners owned only 18 percent, and tenancy had virtually disappeared.

Few developments changed South Korea so profoundly, so quickly. Traditional peasants became small entrepreneurial farmers. The conservative landlords, rather than disappearing completely, now directed their capital and energy toward business or education.

Many others established private schools, universities, and private educational foundations. In this way, land reform contributed to the foundations of a prosperous society. It brought stability to the countryside and redirected much of the capital and entrepreneurial energy of the old landlord class toward commerce, industry, and education.

In the s and s, President Park Chunghee helped Samsung and others grow through financial support and protection from foreign competitors—most notably by banning those who were selling consumer electronics in South Korea.

In the years following World War II, the keiretsu emerged after the zaibatsu, conglomerate businesses that were started during the Meiji period , were dismantled by occupying US forces.

Post-war keiretsu businesses operated by using cooperation between multiple industries centered around and assisted by a major bank. A second fundamental change South Korea went through in the decade before was an extraordinarily rapid transformation of education. Immediately after liberation in , new schools mushroomed, and enrollments exploded.

The Korean War did little to slow the expansion of schooling, despite the destruction of school buildings. In , classes were being held everywhere space could be found, from abandoned factories to tents. Since there was a shortage of teachers, class sizes were enormous, with as many as students in a class and with two and even three shifts a day.

Between and , primary school enrollment grew by three times, secondary schooling eight times, and higher education ten times. By , primary schooling was nearly universal for boys and girls, and the dropout rate was minimal. South Korea had the lowest dropout rate of any poor country with reliable statistics. The state in the s carried out policies that proved highly successful for creating a literate society. It invested in teacher education and insisted on maintaining high standards of professionalism, including required in-service teacher training programs.

The state concentrated on establishing primary education and left much of the development of upper levels to private foundations. This made it easier to achieve universal primary education in a short time. As a result, half of the high schools and three-quarters of the colleges and universities were private in Many educational foundations were supported by former landowners seeking new opportunities after they had lost their agricultural estates.

Enrollment in secondary and higher education grew even faster. In , 29 percent of those of secondary school age were enrolled in middle and high schools, a number that would rise to over 90 percent in the next two decades.

Public funds were often directed at rural schools. As a result, the gap in educational standards between rural and urban areas was less than in many developed nations in The main engine of educational expansion, however, was a nearly universal popular demand for schooling.

Fifth republic and new constitution. Martial law ends, but government continues to have strong powers to prevent dissent. General Roh Tae-woo succeeds President Chun, grants greater degree of political liberalisation and launches anti-corruption drive. First free parliamentary elections. Sunshine policy. North stops propaganda broadcasts against South. South Korea gives amnesty to more than 3, prisoners.

One hundred North Koreans meet their relatives in the South in a highly-charged, emotional reunion. Kim Dae-jung awarded Nobel Peace Prize. Thirty North Koreans are thought to have been killed. Opposition raises security fears over the plan. In May he is sentenced to 10 years in jail. He takes office in January Head of the largest South Korean car maker, Hyundai, is jailed for three years for embezzlement. The two sides hold talks aimed at preventing flooding on the Imjin River which spans their militarised border.