by Morley Evans
What's with those crazy North Koreans?
The photo above which is still popular in North Korea might have something to do with it.
In The Korean War: A History, Bruce Cumings provides a collection of essays which shed light on the issue. He tells us that the American war in Korea from 1950 to 1953 is well documented. What is not understood in the United States is that the Korean War started in 1931 and continues to this day — 83 years and counting! Why are those (North) Koreans crazy?
Whereas General Douglas MacArthur understood and respected the Japanese (Washington did not), this did not extend to the Koreans. MacArthur was not alone. Nobody in Washington or Tokyo understood and respected Koreans, Cummings instructs his readers. We need to look at the Empire of Japan and its colonial history to find the origins of the Korean War and what motivates North Korea today, Cummings says.
First of all, Koreans are a unique people with a distinct ethnicity that is 1,000 years old. Americans saw Korea at the lowest point in Korean history when the United States was involved in the civil war there. Koreans are as different from Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese as French, Spanish and Italians are from each other and from Germans.
Second, the Empire of Japan was created by Japanese who wrestled power away from the Shogun and restored the Emperor after the civil war that followed the "friendly visits" of the American, Commodore Perry, between 1852 and 1854. These Japanese businessmen modeled the Empire of Japan along European and American lines for fun and profit. Japan was an ally of the United States until 1941.
Third, Washington's empire (that is not an empire) has been a serious problem since it was created. One can look at the history of the country that calls itself the United States of America. One will see unremitting expansion and aggression — cloaked as a policy of spreading liberty, "free enterprise" and democracy — undermining and destroying societies as if they have no value. The only good people from Washington's perspective are those who are under Washington's thumb. That includes Americans, themselves.
Fourth, Korean people populated the peninsula and were also a presence north of the Yalu River in Manchuria from where came the Ching Dynasty, AKA the Manchu Dynasty, China's last Imperial rulers. In 1931, Manchuria became Manchukuo, a Japanese colony with a terrible colonial record, not unlike the colonies of European countries and the United States..
Fifth, Koreans fighting alongside Chinese communists in Manchuria were a major part in the insurgency against the Japanese. Kim Il Sung was their leader. Some Koreans collaborated with the Japanese during the period when the Empire of Japan colonized Korea. They would go on to make fortunes and become the leaders of South Korea after 1945. The United States would become allied with them and with Japan, America's old friend that had to be atom bombed to bring it to heel.
Finally, The Koreans who fought for Korean independence from the Empire of Japan became the leaders of North Korea. The Korean communists never did take orders from Stalin or even from Mao. Kim Il Sung and his party were independent, like Tito of Yugoslavia. For them, the enemy is still Japan's leaders who are the sons and grandsons of the people who ran the Empire of Japan — along with the Korean traitors who are running dogs of the Americans. The North Korean leaders know their enemies by name, it is personal. For the North Korean leadership, the dead are not forgotten and the wounds are still open and bleeding. The war for Korean independence and unification continues unabated. Americans can reflect on their own civil war to see parallels. Meanwhile, Washington stokes the fires and fans the flames. War "games" regularly staged on North Korea's doorstep are a constant provocation. Uncle Sam never stops making trouble. What would Washington have thought if the USSR had regularly staged war "games" in Mexico or Canada right on the US border? What if the USSR had killed half the American population and bombed every American city and town flat?
Open your eyes and look around. You will see the truth. Washington is everywhere stirring up trouble and inciting "revolution" to bring peace and freedom to the world. The world is not peaceful and it gets less free every moment as friendly old Uncle Sam pushes the world toward WW III.
Japan has been apologizing for WW II since 1945. The United States has not apologized to anyone for anything it has ever done. Believing it is blameless, the United States never will. Read The Korean War: A History by Bruce Cumings and find out what happened and what continues to happen. You will have the answer to the question: What's with those crazy North Koreans?
Of course, a constant state of war is good business for the leaders of North Korea too.
We don't do things like this so the items below are probably just communist propaganda:
Novel:
Ha Jin’s novel War Trash rings true on every page: His protagonist’s unit crossed the Yalu to find empty land, “with at least four-fifths of the houses leveled to the ground.” The farther south they went, even fewer houses remained. The image of a blind woman “in a ruffly white dress” picking through a garbage dump, a toddler strapped to her back, remains with him forever as a sign of human resilience. Even amid the blasted landscape, Korean women sang songs, sometimes for hours in the evening, and remained so fond of cosmetics that most had a pouch of stuff to make up their faces (few Chinese women over forty bother with wearing skirts, let alone makeup). He came upon a prison camp holding hundreds of women guerrillas; women sang there, too; “their voices transported me into reveries.” He noticed that Chinese and North Korean soldiers paid for what they took from civilians, whereas South Korean troops just took. How is it that a Chinese foot soldier sees these things, but Americans apparently didn’t? Then after he was captured, he wondered why American doctors and nurses were so kind to him.
Cumings, Bruce (2010-07-21). The Korean War: A History (Modern Library Chronicles) (Kindle Locations 1304-1312). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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William Blum, Rogue State:
http://williamblum.org/chapters/rogue-state/united-states-bombings-of-other-countries
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Air War Korea, 1950-53
http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2000/October%202000/1000korea.aspx
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