I've never heard of pre Korean war North Korea massacring tens of thousands of civilians like South Korea in the Jeju uprising, though obviously after the war human rights was often terrible. It's certainly possible it happened, but it doesn't change that the US assisted Rhee in killing leftists and then propped up his government for decades.
>who was himself dissapeared by Kim Il Sung in 1949.
1957, supposedly for being part of a China and Soviet backed coup attempt.
>but trying to claim that the US "invaded" South Korea with 300 troops is absurd.
> I've never heard of pre Korean war North Korea massacring tens of thousands of civilians like South Korea in the Jeju uprising
I recommend learning about the history of North Korea. Those concentration camps existed before the war. Do you really think the forced collectivization policies and murder of "class enemies", monks, priests, landlords, university professors, members of the press, etc., that killed 30 million in Russia and 55 million in China were miraculously bloodless in North Korea? It was the same set of Stalinist policies in all these places, with similar networks of gulags, summary executions, etc.
> 1957, supposedly for being part of a China and Soviet backed coup attempt.
He was dissapeared in 1949. No one knows what happened to him, but there are some rumors that he was killed in 57.
Beyond that, "I recommend learning about the history, then you can guess that terrible things were happening" isn't really changing anything I said, which is primarily about how the US backed it's own military dictatorship in South Korea.
I stand corrected - he was dissapeared in the 60s.
> I said, which is primarily about how the US backed it's own military dictatorship in South Korea.
The US "backed" an illiberal government with 300 soldiers.
Meanwhile North Korea set up concentration camps, exterminated monks, executed "class enemies", those with property, priests, and nuns, and engaged in forced collectivization of land as part of widespread destruction of civil society -- all prior to the North's invasion of South Korea.
Somehow you are trying to create a moral equivalence between a Stalinist dictatorship in North Korea with many concentrate camps in it, and South Korea - which although it is illiberal by modern standards, was by far more free and humane than anything on the Korean peninsula in the history of that land. Then you are arguing that the US "supported" the South because of these 300 American soldiers. Meanwhile the North had over 100,000 PLA and Soviet troops and hundreds and tanks and fighter aircraft. From this, you conclude that the North did not invade the South, as historians say, but that the US actually invaded Korea.
Look, I know which Chomsky pamphlet you are getting this stuff from and it is an Orwellian reading of history. The 300 US soldiers is not an "invasion" of Korea by the US, and there is no comparison between the North and the South in the arena of human rights or freedom.
>I stand corrected - he was dissapeared in the 60s
He was removed from his position in 1957, and completely purged in 58. Not 49, not the 60's.
>Then you are arguing that the US "supported" the South because of these 300 American soldiers.
Again, this is not my argument. The US invaded North Korea with over 400,000 troops. I linked you the details of this invasion, it's common knowledge that it happened.
I'm not trying to create a moral equivalence, you accused someone of spreading disinfo for a factual version of events.
I've said that North Korea had a horrible human rights record, and that I wouldn't be surprised if their were prewar massacres. That doesn't change that the US invaded to prop up the military dictatorship headed by Rhee. Maybe his dictatorship was better than the North's would have been, I won't speculate. Either way, the US is the reason Korea wasn't unified under the North.
I have no idea what Chomsky pamphlet you think I'm getting this from, you're making up most of what you think my argument is. Let's keep it simple, Rhee was a military dictatorship, the US invaded North Korea to ensure he stayed in power.
>who was himself dissapeared by Kim Il Sung in 1949.
1957, supposedly for being part of a China and Soviet backed coup attempt.
>but trying to claim that the US "invaded" South Korea with 300 troops is absurd.
I'm not making that claim, the US had over 400,000 troops invade North Korea. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War#UN_forces_invade_No...