| South Korea 대한민국 | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Capital | Seoul |
| Official languages | Korean |
| Dominant mode of production | Capitalism |
| Government | Unitary Corporatocratic Republic |
• President | Moon Jae-in |
• Prime Minister | Kim Boo-kyum |
• Speaker of the National Assembly | Park Byeong-seug |
| History | |
• First Republic | 1948 August 15th |
| Area | |
• Total | 100,363 km² |
| Population | |
• 2019 estimate | 51,709,098 |
| Currency | Korean Republic won |
The Republic of Korea (ROK), commonly called South Korea, is a U.S. puppet state on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. The northern part of the peninsula is governed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly called North Korea.
Since the ROK is a bourgeois republic (a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, in Marxist language) is is riddled with corruption and political scandals. All four living former South Korean presidents have been sentenced to prison for various crimes ranging from abuse of authority to bribery and embezzlement.[1][2][3][4][5]
History
US Occupation
After Kim Il-sung liberated Korea from the Japanese Empire, Korea was divided across the 38th parallel by two American officers who had never been to Korea.[6] The South was occupied by the United States and a fascist dictatorship led by Harvard graduate Syngman Rhee was installed.[7]
First Republic
Syngman Rhee ruled for the entire existence of the first republic. In 1948, he crushed an uprising on Jeju Island, killing as many as 60,000 people.[8] In 1950, when the DPRK attempted to reunify the country, Rhee's forces retreated and killed at least another 60,000 supposed communist sympathizers.[9] In 1960, Rhee was forced to resign due to mass protests across the nation after the body of a student killed by police was found floating in the harbor.[10]
Military rule
After Rhee's resignation, bourgeois democracy was briefly restored under president Yun Bo-seon.[11] On 1961 May 16, General Park Chung-hee, the father of future president Park Geun-hye and former Japanese collaborator, took power in a military coup. Park ruled as a military dictator for 18 years and sent 320,000 troops to support the South Vietnamese puppet state in the Vietnam War. After Park's assassination on 26 October 1979, Chun Doo-hwan took power. In May 1980, protests against martial law began in Gwangju, which were met with special warfare troops. Up to 2,300 civilians were killed in the Gwangju massacre.[12]
Politics
NATO alliance
In June 2022, the South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol declared he will participate in the 3rd NATO Summit of 2022.[13] The director of the National Security Office Kim Sung-han declared not much later that South Korea will establish a "diplomatic mission" to NATO in Brussels to coincide with President Yoon Suk-yeol's participation in the Summit. According to Sung-han, this mission will make South Korea "able to increase information sharing and strengthen our networks with NATO allies and partners and establish a Europe platform that is worthy of our [global] status".[14]
Rising anti-capitalism
In recent years, the term "Hell Joseon" or "Hell Korea" (Korean: 헬조선) has become popular to describe the social anxiety and discontent surrounding high unemployment and poor working conditions.[15][16]
South Korean media has also increasingly included narratives of class antagonism which have been poplar successes for Western audiences, with films such as Snowpiercer (2013)[17] and Parasite (2019)[18] and the popular TV show Squid Game (2021)[19][20][21]
With increasing economic stratification, social alienation, and lack of opportunity among young people entering the work force, South Korea has a rate of mental health issues and suicide that is among the highest in the developed world.[22] This undoubtedly is resulting in the development of class consciousness.
The bourgeoisie media (in South Korea and in the US) carefully ensures that all criticism of capitalism stops just short of providing concrete solutions, lest people become interested in socialism and its various successes around the world.
Labor militancy is also on the rise as 500k South Korean workers walk off in a one-day general strike, protesting against rampant exploitation by the gig economy, high costs of housing, and the highest annual working hours in the OECD.[23]
References
- ↑ "South Korea's troubling history of jailing ex-presidents" (2018-10-09). American Enterprise Institute.
- ↑ "Former South Korean president sentenced to prison" (2021-02-10). Deutsche Welle.
- ↑ Ex-president Roh Tae-woo to pay remainder of massive fine (2013-08-22). The Chosunilbo.
- ↑ "South Korea: President's impeachment on a background of political scandal" (2017-02-07). Perspective Monde.
- ↑ "South Korea ex-leader jailed for 15 years" (2018-10-05). BBC News.
- ↑ Don Oberdorfer, Robert Carlin (2014). The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (p. 5). ISBN 9780465031238
- ↑ "Syngman Rhee". Doopedia.
- ↑ Ghosts of Cheju (2000-06-18). Newsweek. Archived from the original. Retrieved 2021-21-30.
- ↑ Kim Dong-Choon (2004). Forgotten war, forgotten massacres--the Korean War (1950-1953) as licensed mass killings. [PDF] Journal of Genocide Research.
- ↑ Cause of the 4.19 Revolution.
- ↑ "The Democratic Interlude". Library of Congress.
- ↑ K. J. Noh (2020-12-02). "South Korean Dictator Dies, Western Media Resurrects a Myth" Hampton Institute. Archived from the original on 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2022-06-02.
- ↑ "Yoon to attend NATO summit, 1st time for S. Korean president" (2022-06-22). Kyodo News.
- ↑ "Korea to open diplomatic mission to NATO" (2022-06-22). Korea JoongAng Daily.
- ↑ Lashing out at “Hell Joseon”, young’uns drive ruling party’s election beatdown
- ↑ Young South Koreans call their country ‘hell’ and look for ways out by the Washington Post
- ↑ THE TRAIN IS CAPITALISM- SNOWPIERCER AND CLASS CONSCIOUNESS
- ↑ Parasite and Capitalism: What the Film Says About the Pursuit of Wealth
- ↑ Squid Game & The Rise Of Anti-Capitalist Entertainment
- ↑ “The Squid Game”: Anti-Capitalism and Netflix
- ↑ “Squid Game” Works Because Capitalism Is A Global Scourge
- ↑ Katrin Park (2021-10-5). "South Korea Is No Country for Young People" Foreign Policy.
- ↑ HALF A MILLION SOUTH KOREAN WORKERS WALK OFF JOBS IN GENERAL STRIKE on The Real News Network