Fight for the Pacific -The Korean people in the struggle against the bloody aggression of American predatory imperialism

Fight for the Pacific 

Avarin 

5. The Korean people in the struggle against the bloody aggression of American predatory imperialism

The United States is pursuing an openly aggressive bloody imperialist policy in Korea. Carrying out their predatory policy, they stubbornly set themselves the task of preventing the unification of the Korean people and the creation of a single independent Korea. South Korea, which occupies about 40% of the country's territory with 60% of the population, was turned into an American military foothold, a US colony.

Korea was liberated in August-early September 1945 by Soviet troops from the yoke of Japanese imperialism. The American invaders were deprived of the opportunity to put the yoke of colonial slavery on the population of North Korea, where the Soviet Army remained until the end of 1948. The people of North Korea created a people's democratic government, in whose election the masses of South Korea also participated; The American imperialists tried by all means to suppress the democratic movement in the southern part of Korea they had occupied. American troops landed in South Korea on September 8, 1945, and created a brutal imperialist occupation regime. The American Lauterbach, in his book Danger from the East, admitted that in South Korea, the American authorities threw more Koreans into prisons in the early years of the occupation, threw more Koreans into prison than the Japanese had ever done.

After the surrender of Japan, up to nine hundred thousand Japanese left Korea. Instead of a Japanese administration, American generals created an auxiliary administrative apparatus of Koreans - former Japanese agents and people who had previously served the Japanese. Korean repatriates, whose total number by the end of 1948 exceeded 2.2 million, were sent by the Americans from Japan, Kuomintang China, and Southeast Asia only to South Korea in order to increase the number of colonial slaves of the American monopolies. More than 50% of the total number of repatriates came from Japan, up to 20% from China and South Manchuria. A significant number of landlords, kulaks, police officers and various former lackeys of the Japanese imperialists fled North Korea under the wing of the American reactionaries.

Huge tracts of land seized in South Korea by the Japanese during their rule, the American administration took over after the surrender of Japan. The Japanese owned half of the total land area in Korea and almost one-fourth of the cultivated area; the American authorities did not even think about returning these lands to the working peasantry. They sold part of the land to Korean landlords and compradors, and most of it, including the possessions of the former Japanese concern Totaku, was transferred to the “New Korean Company” created by them in February 1946, which was supposed to be an instrument of American capital for the exploitation of Korean agriculture.

However, a powerful anti-American movement in South Korea forced them to dissolve this company on March 22, 1948, but after part of the land had been plundered by it. The remaining lands were transferred to the land administration of the South Korean puppet government, which, in turn, continued to partly give away these lands to their adherents - traitors to the Korean people, and partly sold them, trying to create a kulak stratum in addition to the landlord class as their social support in the countryside. By the beginning of July 1948, out of 588,000 land holdings, 490,000 were plundered and sold (1) .

After the comedy of the elections in South Korea, held on May 10, 1948, the American militarists created their puppet government in this part of the country from former Japanese henchmen and other political crooks, headed by Syngman Rhee. This government of the Korean Quislings was held in Seoul only as a result of the military, political and economic support of US imperialism. It brutally cracked down not only on the national liberation and democratic movement, but also on the opposition in the ranks of the Korean bourgeoisie and even attacked a number of members of its puppet parliament who tried to raise their voices of protest against the shameless anti-national policy of the leaders. But not even a year had passed since the creation of this puppet government, the agency of the American monopolies, as it became clear that it was a complete political and economic bankrupt.

Demonstrations, strikes and sabotage, and in 1948-1950, armed guerrilla actions against the oppression of US imperialism have become commonplace in South Korea. Even many right-wing bourgeois parties in that country, having at first succumbed to demagogic American propaganda, began in 1948 to oppose the US occupation administration and its policies. They came to the conclusion that this administration and its puppet ensemble, led by Syngman Rhee, aimed at the complete colonial enslavement of Korea.

These parties took part in the Korean People's Congress held in Pyongyang in April 1948; they joined the proposal of the Soviet Union and the demands of the Korean democratic parties for the withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Korea and for the Korean people to be given the opportunity to establish their own democratic government.

The proposal of the Soviet government was received with great satisfaction by the broad masses of the people of Korea. The population of South Korea aspired to carry out the same fundamental democratic transformations that were carried out by the working masses in all areas of social and economic life in North Korea during the presence of the Soviet Army there. There, the land previously seized by the Japanese and the landlords' land were distributed free of charge among the peasants; by the spring of 1947, 725,000 landless and land-poor peasant families in North Korea had received more than one million hectares of land.

The Supreme People's Assembly of Korea was elected by the Korean people in August 1948. Not only the entire population of North Korea, but also 70% of the population of American-occupied South Korea participated in its elections. The Supreme People's Assembly proclaimed a people's democratic republic and set up a government headed by the leader of the Korean people and the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim Il Sung. The Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Korea by December 25, 1948.

In an effort to turn South Korea into its monopoly possession, Wall Street did not allow its English competitors to operate in it. English goods penetrated into Korea only in very limited quantities, there was no question of British investment in the country or the influence of England on the Seoul puppet government. The American monopolies considered South Korea their prey.

Armed uprisings against the American occupation regime, in which even separate military and police units created by the Americans took part, began to flare up already in the autumn of 1948 and intensified in the first half of 1949. The American imperialists decided to take a maneuver - to evacuate in the summer of 1949 their regular troops from South Korea. Leaving a horde of military and all kinds of other advisers and instructors in the puppet army and the government of Rhee Syngman, abundantly supplying this government with weapons and supporting it with their fleet, the American militarists hoped that by ostentatious withdrawal of troops from the country they would be able to calm the people of Korea. Back in 1948, the Washington government officially recognized its puppet, the government of Syngman Rhee, as the government of Korea. The American imperialists continued to rule South Korea. Discontent grew among the masses, the guerrilla movement developed increasingly, the purpose of which was to overthrow the hated regime of Lee Syngman, reunite with North Korea and win independence for the whole country. During 1949, even separate battalions and other military units, led by their commanders, joined the partisans, or left South Korea and went over to the side of the Korean People's Democratic Government. The leader of the construction of a new Korea was the Workers' Party, a mass party of workers created in June 1946 as a result of the merger of the People's and New Democratic Parties with the Communist Party of Korea, following the teachings of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin.

At the end of June 1949, the constituent congress of the United Democratic Patriotic Front was held in Pyongyang, which was attended by representatives of more than 70 parties and public organizations of North and South Korea. The congress adopted a program for the struggle for the unity, independence, and democratic development of Korea.

Turning South Korea into their colony, the American occupiers liquidated its industry, as a result of which most of the workers were thrown into the streets without any means of subsistence. In 1949, the production of the textile industry in South Korea was only 13% compared to the products of the end of 1945, the production of agricultural implements - 9%, engineering - 5% (2). In addition to high taxes, the occupiers also used inflation as a means of robbing the masses. In 1949, retail prices increased by more than a thousand times compared to pre-war prices. The terrible robbery of the peasants with the help of a variety of methods led to the fact that they could not even carry out simple reproduction. In addition, the occupiers and their puppets drove the peasants from the land in the areas of partisan movement. Many villages were completely resettled, and the peasants were forced to abandon their fields. As a result of all this, agriculture in South Korea has come to an unprecedented decline. The cultivated land area, which in 1945 was 87% of the pre-war area, decreased to 66% in 1948 and to 55% in 1949; cotton in 1948/49 was collected only 17 thousand - less than 50% of the average pre-war harvest.

The deficit of the state budget, a huge share of which went to finance the armed struggle against the people's liberation movement, in 1948/49 amounted to at least 40% of the entire budget. This deficit was largely covered, as before, by the printing press. As a result, inflation increased rapidly in South Korea. By the end of 1948, more than 40 billion won were in circulation, i.e., almost 5 times more than after the surrender of Japan in September 1945. At the end of 1949, already 74 billion won were put into circulation. economic ruin, accompanied by unbridled terror and merciless robbery of broad sections of the working people, for its part, contributed to the development of a mass armed partisan struggle of the people against the American occupiers and their proteges.

Thanks to the leadership of the people's democracy and the labor enthusiasm of the workers and peasants, industry and agriculture in North Korea developed at an unusually fast pace. In 1949, the grain harvest in the People's Democratic Republic exceeded the 1944 harvest by 626,000 tons; The output of such branches of industry as machine-building and light industry surpassed the pre-war level. Cultural construction was marked by huge successes. Korean youth got the opportunity to study at universities and institutes. Within five years, fifteen institutions of higher education were opened, while before the liberation, there was not a single institution of higher education in North Korea (4). As a result of land reforms, the dominance of landlords and usurers ended, their lands were transferred to peasants and farm laborers. The masses of South Korea knew that an independent Korean state existed north of the 38th parallel, that the people there began to live the kind of life that the Koreans passionately dreamed of during the long years of Japanese oppression.

The existence of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which attracted the popular masses of South Korea like a magnet, infuriated the American imperialists. In addition, North Korea was close to important areas of the Soviet Far East and bordered on China's largest industrial region, Manchuria. The American imperialists sought to establish their foothold in North Korea. They also tried to make up for their defeat in China by some success in their aggressive policy.

All this led to the shameful and bloody military adventure of the American aggressors in Korea, launched on June 25, 1950. On that day, the puppet South Korean army, on the orders of Syngman Rhee and his American masters, attempted to invade the People's Democratic Republic, hoping to quickly crack down on people's democracy. in North Korea. This army was thoroughly prepared for the attack. The American occupying forces, who left South Korea a year earlier, left hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of weapons to the puppet regime. Until the end of 1949, according to official figures, the United States provided Syng-man Rhee with subsidies of $275 million and a loan of $25 million. (5). The Americans trained an army of 100,000 soldiers and officers and a police corps of 50,000 men. These armed forces were actually commanded by 500 American military advisers and instructors. In addition, the US military itself was trained to assist the South Korean puppets.

However, the command of the People's Democratic Army, which received reliable information about the impending invasion in early May, adequately met the gangs of mercenaries trained by MacArthur. In a radio address to the Korean people, Prime Minister Kim Il Sung said on June 26: "The government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, after discussing the situation, has ordered our People's Army to launch a decisive counteroffensive and defeat the enemy's armed forces."(6) . The immediate direct American intervention did not help either. The puppet troops were quickly defeated and, with the active support of the population of South Korea, they were driven, together with the American intervention troops, to a narrow bridgehead on the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. Two months after the beginning of the attack on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, no more than 10% of the territory of South Korea remained in the hands of the American interventionists. In the liberated South Korea, the people immediately established the same democratic order as in North Korea. Land transformations were carried out, as a result of which 1,163 thousand farm laborers and poor peasants received 520 thousand tenbo of land (7). The people of South Korea, having rid themselves of the terrible oppression of US imperialism and its puppets, enthusiastically set about building a new life. But American predatory imperialism did not want to reconcile itself to another defeat of its aggressive plans.

The Washington government dictated on June 27 to its satellites in the United Nations the illegal decision that the war against the Korean people would be waged in the name and under the flag of the United Nations. The Security Council took this shameful decision in the absence of representatives of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, and therefore it could not have any legal force. The American aggressors needed it not only to try to disguise their bloody attack on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, but they also hoped to get cannon fodder and other help from their satellites to wage the war. “The American imperialists, who dream of world domination,” Kim Il Sung stated in early July, are striving to “turn our homeland into their colony forever, (8) . Having gathered superior forces and huge military equipment, the American robbers went on the offensive in mid-September 1950. An army of 50 thousand people, hundreds of warships, many hundreds of bombers, and fighters were thrown into the landing operation against Seoul.

In view of the overwhelming superiority in the armed forces, the American aggressors at first achieved a certain success. After recapturing South Korea, an army of murderers and robbers crossed the 38th parallel and invaded North Korea. This army included two brigades of British troops, a Turkish brigade, detachments of Filipino, French, Dutch mercenaries, Lisynman South Korean divisions and various other rabble, but its main forces were American divisions, fleet, and aviation.

Committing terrible atrocities everywhere on their way, destroying tens of thousands of civilians, including women and children, MacArthur's hordes of robbers were already looking forward to victory. MacArthur himself, not distinguished by either military talents or even the ability to soberly assess the situation, at the end of November announced to the world that by Christmas his "victorious" troops would go home to celebrate the victory. In one area, hordes of robbers had already approached the Chinese border. Having launched a general offensive on November 24, 1950, the American command expected to destroy the Korean People's Liberation Army and the Chinese volunteers who had come to its aid within one to two weeks.

The presumptuous American strategists were bitterly disappointed. The offensive of their ground forces quickly fizzled out. The People's Liberation Forces of Korea and the Chinese volunteers who came to their aid launched a counteroffensive. All tactical and strategic calculations of the Americans turned out to be built on sand. They suffered a severe military defeat. Millions of Korean patriots helped by all means to fight against the cruel enemy. The most terrible repressions and atrocities could not stop the great popular impulse. Hundreds of new fighters took the place of each killed, tortured. This was the greatest defeat of the American conquerors. That is why "Korea has become the banner of the liberation movement for the oppressed and dependent countries" (9) .

The war of conquest launched by US imperialism in Korea did not turn out to be an easy and pleasant military walk, as the US imperialists hoped. The Washington rulers launched a furious arms race, resorted to a policy of desperate pressure on their imperialist "minor partners" and satellites, and forced eighteen of their satellites to take part in the attack on Korea and in threatening the People's Republic of China.

Already at the end of 1950, the magnates of American capital showed that they yearn for the speediest expansion of the conflagration of war, that, contrary to the lessons of history, contrary to logic and common sense, they were betting on a third world war; like lost playboys, they are ready to play all-in, although such a game clearly threatens them with death.

It is clear, therefore, that the open military aggression of US imperialism against the Korean and Chinese peoples in the Far East has not only a local significance. It is intricately linked to the entire international situation; it threatens the peace and security of the entire world. The heroic troops of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Chinese volunteers are fighting with weapons in their hands in defense of peace. Their successes and victories are the successes and victories of the cause of peace. The struggle against the American invasion of Korea is therefore of tremendous importance for all peace-loving peoples, for the proletariat of all countries, for the democratic forces of the entire world. It enjoys the warmest sympathy and support of the popular masses of all countries, including all the progressive people of the United States of America.

In connection with the proposal made by the representative of the Soviet Union, Comrade Malik, to start negotiations on a cessation of hostilities in Korea, made in the summer of 1951, the US government was forced to agree to negotiations. But, having begun negotiations with the command of the Korean People's Liberation Army and the command of the Chinese volunteers at the end of June 1951, the American generals soon showed that they were trying to disrupt the negotiations with all sorts of provocations and predatory demands, the place of which was Kaesong, located on the 38th parallel, and then Panmenzhon.

Simultaneously with the negotiations, American air pirates continued to bombard Pyongyang and other North Korean cities. The army of imperialist invaders also unsuccessfully made fierce attempts to break through the front located in the region of the 38th parallel.

The powerful rebuff that American aggression received in Korea was yet another proof that the peoples no longer wish to endure colonial enslavement, even if it is supported by the entire military force of the most predatory imperialist power, the United States of America.

(1) Economist Survey, 1948, p. 41.

(2) See Pravda, March 22, 1950.

(3) See Kim Il Sung, The Korean People's Great Liberation War for Freedom and Independence, Pyongyang 1951, p. 51.

(4) See ibid., page 52.

(5) Economist Survey, 1949, p. 422. In fact, the cost of military aid to Syngman Rhee exceeded $700 million.

(6) Kim Il Sung, The Korean People's Great Liberation War for Freedom and Independence, p. 7.

(7) See ibid., p. 101.

(8) Kim Il Sung, The Great Liberation War of the Korean People for Freedom and Independence, p. 22.

(9) N. A. Bulganin, 33rd Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, Gospolitizdat, 1950, p. 25.