March 1, 1948 - Cheju Island: The People's Committee in power since 1945 organizes a mass protest against the division of Korea. The police arrest more than 2,500 demonstrators and torture several prisoners to death. The Committee organizes guerrilla warfare and some 3,000 students join.
The guerrilla war last nearly two years and leave the island in ruins. Some 20,000 homes are destroyed, 100,000 refugees are left homeless, and 30,000 islanders are killed. The Cheju Incident will remain as one of the most hideous crimes committed by Rhee and US against the Korean people.
March 10, 1948 - US CIA reports:
"The Korean leadership is provided by that numerically small class which virtually monopolizes the native wealth and education of the country... Since this class could not have acquired and maintained its favored position under Japanese rule without a certain minimum of collaboration, it has experienced difficulty in finding acceptable candidates for political office and has been forced to support imported expatriate politicians such as Syngman Rhee and Kim Ku. These, while they have no pro-Japanese taint, are essentially demagogues bent on autocratic rule."
May 10, 1948 - The UN sponsored election is held in S Korea. The Assembly votes to elect Rhee president of the Republic of Korea.
June 1948 - China: Chen Yi's Third Field Army begins the final campaign (Huai-Hai) to finish off Chiang Kai Sek.
Aug. 15, 1948 - Seoul: The Republic of Korea (ROK) is formally established in S. Korea. S. Korea adopts the old Korean flag and the national anthem and so they are now forbidden in N. Korea. For some of us in N Korea, ROK is the Korean People's Republic reincarnated.
We secretly tune in to Radio Seoul. Communists try to jam the radio but we manage to get S Korean news now and then - depending on the weather condition. On this day, Gen. Hodge asks to be relieved of his post - he has had enough of Rhee and Korea. Gen. John Coulter replaces Hodge.
John J. Muccio is the US ambassador to S Korea. Muccio is a career diplomat well-known for womanizing and drinking. Rhee manages to extract money and equipment for his military and in return Muccio forces Rhee to keep his army under US control. US advisers would be attached to every Korean army division headquarters and US generals would have the command control of the Rhee's army. Muccio agrees to keep the latter provision secret.
Sept. 9, 1948 - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is established in N. Korea. Red flags finally come down and N. Korean flags go up. We learn a new national anthem - which, I admit, sounds much better than the old anthem. The Soviet troops and their families leave our town. They are taking with them just about everything not bolted down. Russians love Japanese house furniture.
Kim Il Sung implements a currency reform designed to wipe out capitalists. My father has received a nominal compensation for his farm in Kapsan and for his dry cell factory in Hamhung - in the old Russian Occupation currency. He is allowed to exchange only a measly sum - in effect, his capital is wiped out overnight. My father's communist friends get him appointed as manager of the Wonsan State Farm. He is given a free hand to manage it - but all profits go the state. He takes his third wife and moves to Wonsan.
Oct. 19, 1948 - Yosu, S Korea: The S Korean Army 14th and 6th Regiments, some 2,000 strong, mutiny against Rhee. The rebel soldiers take over Yosu and Sunchon. Many Japanese police and Rhee's henchmen are killed off. The People's Committees are restored. The rebels demand that the American military leave Korea immediately. They call for land reforms, a purge of the police and Japanese collaborators and those who promote division of Korea.
US advisers organize a massive campaign to suppress the rebels. Among the rebels are Park Jung Hee (the future president) and his brother (who escapes to N Korea). Park betrays his fellow rebels - it is rumored that Park worked for the US intelligence. The defeated rebels join the guerrillas in the Chiri Mountain.
Photo: Captured rebel soldiers of the Yosu Insurrection
Oct. 1948 - Hamhung: Only two elderly Russians remain in our town. They run the Russian-Korean Friendship Club. Korean communists (officially -- Korean Workers Party members) go there to waltz and learn Russian. Communist cadres take over the Japanese houses vacated by the departed Russians. We notice for the first time that the 'white' Russian families (Jewish refugees from the Bolshevik revolution) are gone too - either repatriated or killed off by the Soviets.
English language is no longer taught at our school. Our English teacher (a very nice old guy who lived in America until 1945) is let go and dies of tuberculosis shortly thereafter. Russian language replaces English. Our Russian text book was originally written by an American woman for the American GI's involved in the lend-lease actions during WW2. It deals with a lot of American stuff which do not make any sense to us.
Things are settling down: no more Russian school kids to beat up; no more Red soldiers raping or shooting Koreans; no more anti-Russian student demonstrations. We talk less about politics -- our main concern now is our career. For most of us, middle school is the end of our formal education. Upon graduation, we will have to start in the real world. 'Progressive' kids go to military 'academies' (equivalent to US high schools) or to 'high' schools (= US college preps). The rest of us become factory or farm apprentice (an euphemism for child labor).
Dec. 18, 1948 - The N Korean Air Force Academy graduates its first class.
