Social And Socio-Political Developments During The Korean War

Prior to the Korean War the two Koreas were already heading down quite different routes in their development, the War served to define this difference even more so. In the lead up to the war Kim Il Sung (Kim Il Sŏng) relied heavily on Soviet Koreans guidance on many aspects of running the country. While Syngman Rhee (Yi Sŭngman) was a charismatic leader that had unrealistic visions for the country that tended not to incorporate the problems of the moment. When it came to the post war period North Korea had found its footing and was more politically stable than the South who were still trying to find its feet politically. Kim saw unification still as his main goal since the ceasefire was simply a temporary setback in his plans. On the other hand Syngman Rhee was so anti-communist that reunification was not a possibility. I am going to look at socio-political developments in the two Koreas that were a result of the Korean

Yet still approximately half of the manufacturing facilities, electrical generation capacity and coal mines had been destroyed. South Korea had double the population of that of the North, this meant they had a lot of manpower after the war. North Korean refugees that came into the South along with those from the rural South all fled to the cities, contributing to the large population. This increased the urban population of South Koreas cities, however this urban population was very poor. Very few people remained with their wealth intact after the war, in that way the war acted as a social levelling tool in the South. This gave people hope and opportunity as they could move up in social ranking compared with the previously rigid social classes, as a result there were many new entrants into the industrial market. South Korea managed to recover from the war with much aid from