After the liberation of Korea on August 15, in 1945, the Chosun (Korean) Workers’ Party approved of the United States Army Military Government(USAMGIK) in Korea.
The Chosun Workers' Party not only adopted a moderate line to maintain good relations...
After the liberation of Korea on August 15, in 1945, the Chosun (Korean) Workers’ Party approved of the United States Army Military Government(USAMGIK) in Korea.
The Chosun Workers' Party not only adopted a moderate line to maintain good relations with the USAMGIK but also advocated a bourgeois democratic revolution.
The U.S.-U.S.S.R Joint Commission, held for the fulfillment of the Moscow Agreement, ended in a rupture, and an open oppression against the left wing was launched in South Korea. Therefore, the South Korean Workers’ Party (SKWP) announced a so-called ‘new tactics’ and took up a violent armed struggle. The armed struggle waged by the SKWP is called guerrilla warfare. This study is to investigate whether the choice, by which the SKWP converted its moderate line in the early stage such as peaceful competition for political power into a hard line of armed struggle in the later stage, was inevitable under the social structure of South Korea at that time or made by the party’s own will.
The SKWP’s guerrilla warfare was, first, staged against those who were overwhelmingly stronger.
Second, the geographic characteristics of South Korea were unfavorable for guerrilla warfare operations quite differently from those of China, Vietnam and Cuba.
Third, the SKWP’s guerrilla warfare was untimely and inappropriate.
Fourth, the SKWP leadership lacked military experiences.
In addition, the ROK government’s effective implementation of counter-guerrilla warfare and the failed cooperation between the SKWP and the North Korean ‘democratic base’ were the other failure factors.
Although it is bound to indicate the various failure factors as mentioned above, these are mostly military-related factors. Thus, it is also necessary to find political reasons why the SKWP waged guerrilla warfare.
First of all, while the North Korean region existed as a democratic base under the control of Kim Il-sung, the SKWP’s choice for the base had to be limited.
It is thought that there will occur the same form of conflict as the SKWP’s guerrilla warfare if North and South Korea fail to integrate with each other during the unification period.
In this study, it was argued that the integration of each sector should precede unification, and military integration should be prior to political, economic and social integration. This is demonstrated by the fact that a civil war broke out after the unification in Yemen. The example of Yemen shows well that civil war or guerrilla warfare can break out when military integration ends in failure. In this regard, this study presents some strategies for preparation.
In this consideration, thorough advance preparation is needed. Due to the geographic characteristics of the Korean peninsula, guerrilla warfare will not last for a long period of time. However, the topography of North Korea is more complicated than that of South Korea, and it can become a burden if China provides Manchuria as a base for guerrilla warfare.