Korea Must Be Independent
OLIVER, ROBERT T.
Korea Must Be Independent The Record of American Policy in a Strategic Area By Robert T. Oliver Associate Professor of Speech, Syracuse University. SINCE the Korean question is relegated to the...
...If you hav* plana unrevealed to the public, what ar* they...
...If you face difficulties of which we laymen sre unswsre, what are they...
...There wss myiterious nightly shooting in the street...
...The "reservoir of good will" which the United States has had in Korea despite our treatment of that country, is now very rspidly running out—and still our policy remains one of drift...
...Behind the facade of the government, the will of Moscow wa* still decisive in Poland," when Phillips was there...
...To anaounre at once that each in our policy, ao that the present bewilderment and coofunion msy end...
...In 1898 we ignored the threat of Japanese aggression that broke China's allegiance with "Korea anil seized For4 In 1904 we permitted Ihe Japanese to'shoulder their way into Korea on thieir way to fight Russia...
...11—During the war, the Stale Department did its utmost (o encourage dissension among the Koreans by declaring that any dissenting Korean would be accorded the same treatment or consideration received by Dr...
...A Korea in Chinese hsnds would be a constant threat to Siberia...
...A Korea in Russian hands means a Russia-dominated Orient...
...TuE story is a clear record of mistakes so closely crowded together thai they stumble over one another: I In 1882 the United Stales opened Korea to foreign intercourse using as bait a treaty promising our friendly intercession if any nation should "deal unjustly" with it...
...Korea is the only country other than Germany being ruled by the military forces of—shall we say "liberators" or conquerors...
...A QUESTION Americans should unite to ask of our policy-makers ii: "Gentlemen, whati are you about?' To summarize some dominant ..impressions : Korea is the only nation other than Germany which is divided and being ruled by separate powers...
...9—All through the 1920's and 1930's we refused any recognition of the Korean Provisional Government headed by its elected president, Dr...
...What we ought to be doing would seem to be clear: To negotiate at once with the Russians to remove their troops and lo end the division of Korea...
...POLAND IN NOVEMBER...
...In any case, their status is subject to the general rule* of warfare and the principle* of the international law...
...1945 A SUMMARY description of Poland i* given in Lift of Nov...
...And 5,000,-000 of the country's 25,000,000 people had still to find homes...
...Unofficially a State Department representative actually said that Ihe reason was a reluctance to "offend" the Japanese...
...It As months have passed since then, Ihe only clarification of policy that has been observed is the clear fact that we are operating on a policy of drift—¦ of waiting to see what the Koreans, and the Russians, will do...
...Government leaders condemned sll opposition to them as 'reactionary' or 'Fascist...
...It 1* obviou* that Sweden is acting under direct threat by Russia...
...T» supervise an orderly election within a year, and lo turn Korea over rompletley and without any alrhiga to its duly elected government...
...6 In 1910 we hastily recognized Japan's incorporation of Korea into lis home empire...
...SINCE the Korean question is relegated to the inside pages of our newspapers, it ought to be placed, in all decency, fn the classified ad section, under the heading: "Lost: an (pportuuity for statesmanship " That peninsular country with which we and Russia are now playing fast and jtoae ii one of the great strategic areas in the world...
...Thi* report reveals the tragic situation of the citizens of Estonia...
...But why ahould not the British and American government*, whioh still recognizt Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia a* independent nations, intervene with the Swedish Government and take the menaced Baltic citizens to the camps of "di»-plai-ed person*'' or of war prisonersi until s fail investigation is made of each" individual case...
...When he was in Poland recently, "only 80,000 of Poland'* 3,000.000 Jews remained...
...A-In 1905 we sponsored the Treaty of* Portsmouth, ending Korea's independence with a Japanese proctectoiale...
...Some 10,000 Poles were dying every month of tuberculosis...
...A Russian vessel is already reported lo lie en route to Sweden to pick up the men and is expected to arrive within ten days...
...From all reports the Russian control of northern Korea is ruthless and completely military...
...Rhee, now back in Korea, is being widely aoclauned by Koreans of every political faith, and is being wooed by all political parties...
...They should not be handed over to Russia, which forcibly incorporated the thre* Baltic States into the USSR and, hence, would treat those Baltic nationals a* deserter* or traitor...
...8— In 1923 we overlooked the slaughter of thousands of Koreans in Japan at the time of the famous earthquake, and instead of condemning the barbarity, we encouraged it by sending millions of dollars worth of supplies to the Jspanese...
...Latvia and Lithuania who escaped to Swollen in September, 1944, before the second Russian invasion, to find refuge in a neutral country...
...A Korea in Jepsmewe ho rut* has already mean...
...If the tone of this article seems overly blunt, the purpose is simply to ask our policy-makers: "Gentlemen, tell us what you are about...
...J-rf-Jn 1919 ws closed our eyes to the revolution in Korea that was encouraged hy, Wilson's promise of the self-determination of peoples, and cast our lot with the militarists controlling Japanese policy...
...Ihe press was technically free but nil the news came from the government news service, Polpre...
...Hi* "rule" is benevolent and his treatment of Koreans is conciliatory...
...Rhee and the Korean Provisional Government then meeting in Chungking...
...IJ —At the war's end, United Stales troops rushed into Korea from the south while Russian troops poured in from the north, and the country was split asunder wilh a line drawn at the 38th parallel, shutting oh* the coal-mining and industrial north from the agricultural south, 13 Our commanding General, John R. Hodges, apparently left to feel his own way with no directives from Washington or from Mac Arthur, immediately proclaimed that Japanese officials would be maintained in office and Japanese troops would lie retained to police Korea...
...A Korea dominated by the United States would be a festering cause of uneasiness to all the Orient...
...Meanwhile, John Vincent Carter, Chief of the Ear Eastern Division of the State De-partmeut, and Commander Stassen—¦ described frequently in editorials as "a clear-visioned internationalist" - have proposed, among others, an international trusteeship for Korea...
...There were said to be as many as 80,000 political prisoners held in concentration ramps...
...Only the threat of imminent rebellion by the Koreans brought an end to this policy...
...P.)—Sweden has decided to accede lo a Russian demand for Ihe extradition of approximately 157 Baltic-refugees who served in the German army and escaped to Sweden immediately after the end of the war, it- was disclosed tonight...
...A United Nations trusteeship over Korea would be a continuing invitation to intrigues and quarrels among the participating nations...
...If your intentions ar* of the best, what are they ? In the name of humanity and the future welfare of the United States in Ihe tinder-box of Asis, come clsan...
...There may be other* who were forcibly mobilized by the Germans and thus might be comidered a* prisoner* of war by the Allied power...
...A festering sore is being created that will take decades toi curs...
...Despite our treaty of mutual aid wilh Karea, we were actually the first natjpn to transfer our diplomatic offices from Seoul to Tokio...
...To surrender them to the Soviet suthorities mean* death...
...General John K. Hodge, who la saddled with the unpleasant job of carrying on in Korea an immoral and indefensible program, is apparently a man of eminent good sense and tolerance...
...19 (II...
...Korean patriot* ace suppressed, systematic looting and, con-, fiscal ion of property is practiced, and Korean Communists are being forced into local offices...
...Only a quarter of Poland's livestock remained...
...Sweden Yields Baltic Fugitives" UnDER this headline The New York Timex published the following despatch from Stockholm: STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov...
...The 80 percent of Korean property values owned by Japan—which seized those properties during its years of occupation—is actually being protected from expropriation by American troops...
...But the old State De-pa rement line is being maintained that Koreans are hopelessly divided and without any leadership...
...The new government had taken over the nn-tion's hotels, mines, -feel mills, railways, trucks, buses, public utilities, harbor* and most of the fowl distribution, leaving the small businesses and small farms in the bands of their owner...
...There were si ill 100,000 bodies in the ruins of Warsaw...
...2- In 1895 we stood aside when Japanese troops murdered the Korean Queen hhn snd exercised increased control over tke intimidated Korean Emperor...
...bridge of aggression, for the Nipponese to Manchuria snd China...
...The alternative an independent Korea—the only just, lofical, or_ sensible solution the only ihis favoring the peace of the Orient and the security of the United States—seems to be the last solution our Stale Department is willing to accept...
...And with the passage of every additional dsy it gets worse...
...Among these refugee* there possibly are some men from the former Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian national armies who considered it their patriotic duly to oppose resistance against a new occupation of their land* by a foreign power...
...19, by correspondent John Phillips...
...Syngman Rhee, 10— In 1941, following Pearl Harbor, we ignored the offer of the Provisional Government to place its underground organization at our disposal, though never in our entire history had we more desperately needed such assistance as it was able to give...
...Surrounded hy Siberian Russia, China, and Japan, it has been • 'key spot for centuries, and will be even more so in the atomic age that lies ahead...
...There was no real freedom of speech...
Vol. 28 • November 1945 • No. 48
