The Dawn of War in South Korea (1947–1950) : The South Korean Workers’ Party and the April Third Massacre

This book offers an analytical account of the April Third Massacre in Korea, a bloody confrontation between supporters of the Syngman Rhee Administration and those suspected (largely incorrectly) of being Communists, or members of the South Korean Workers' Party―the second largest Communist Party after Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. As a result, some 80,000 villagers, fishermen, and policemen were killed. The book, drawing from a wide array of primary sources, ranging from South Korean governmental records, memoranda, memoirs, and recently unclassified documents, examines the role of the South Korean Workers' Party in the April Third Massacre on Jeju and how it shaped the origins of the Korean War. The author maps these origins of the Korean War from the outbreak of the April Third Massacre and through the ensuing chain of violence which included the Yo-su and Sun-ch'on Massacres of October 1948, engulfing the peninsula until 1949. Of interest to all scholars studying modern Korea, it is particularly relevant to historians focused on the Korean War, as well as political scientists and international relations experts interested in East Asian conflicts. Acknowledgements Contents 1 Introduction: The South Korean Workers’ Party, the April Third Massacre, and Understanding the Korean War as a Korean Civil War The April Third Massacre, Sunflowers, and the Korean War The Main Thesis The Structure of the Book 2 Words Which Had Forked No Lightning: The Breakdown of the American-Soviet Negotiations and the Seeds of Ideological Conflict The Unending Controversy Over the April Third Massacre The Necessity of Fermenting a Rebellion and Pak’s Escape to North Korea The Breakdown of the American-Soviet Negotiations Over Trusteeship in Korea The Problem of “Managing Independence” and the U.N.’s Announcement of Separate Elections in South Korea Separate Elections and the Seeds of Ideological Division 3 A Dark Hull Looms and Winds Well Up: The February 7 Commotion and the Embers of the April Third Massacre The Outbreak of the February 7 Incident The April Negotiations and a Confirmation of the Ideological Rift Among Koreans The End of the April Negotiations, the Intensification of Communist Ascendancy in North Korea, the Intensification of Anti-Communism in South Korea, and Pak Hŏnyŏng’s Search for an Exit Strategy The Initiation of the April Third Rebellion and Its Colonial and Post-Colonial Origins 4 The April Third Massacre: A Tragic and Misguided Quest to Punish the “Despicable Conduct” of the South Korean Police The Widening Front of Discontent and the Sabotage of the May 10 Elections The Failure of the SKWP’s Opposition to the May 10 Elections The Stirrings of a Consolidation of a Northern Communist Hegemony The May 10 Insurrection 5 When the Scythe of Time Ran Red and Honor Sat in Hell: The Yŏsu and Sunch’ŏn Rebellion, the Demise of the Southern Left, and the Completion of the Northern-Led Eclipse The Rapid Consolidation of the Northern System after the April Third Massacre The Yŏsu and Sunch’ŏn Rebellions A Diagnosis of the Failure of the Yŏsu and Sunch’ŏn Rebellions The UNTCOK and the Holding of Separate Elections in South Korea 6 Legally Preparing for a Bloody Pandemonium: The Declaration of Martial Law, and the Rise of an Anti-communist Security State in South Korea The Rise of an Anti-Communist Security State in South Korea The Failure of the YŏSun Rebellion and Syngman Rhee’s Declaration of Martial Law The National Security Act and the Abolishment of Regiment 14 as Legacies of the YŏSun Rebellion 7 The Dog in the Silhouette of a Wolf and a Fresh Dream Undressed of Its Celestial Light: The Completion of the NKWP-SKWP Merger and the Southern Origins of the Korean War The SKWP’s Desperate Turn to Guerrilla Warfare The “One People Principle,” the Expansion of the North Korean Army, and the First Embers of the Korean War Rhee’s Opposition to the Prospect of American Military Withdrawal, Land Reform, and the Emergence of Two Separate Regimes North Korea’s Military Preparedness and the Role of the SKWP’s Guerrilla Warfare The Northern Eclipse of the SKWP and the Completion of Communist Hegemony 8 “A Bastardly Pantomime”: The Absorptive Union of the NKWP and the SKWP, the Show Trial of Pak Hŏnyŏng, and the End of “A More Perfect Communist Revolution” The Assassination of Kim Koo and the Absorptive Union of the NKWP and SKWP The Pak Hŏnyŏng Show Trials and the Consolidation of Kim Ilsung’s Power in North Korea Some Concluding Reflections on Pak Hŏnyŏng’s Show Trials Epilogue Bibliography