Talk:People's Republic of Korea

Countrywide developments?

This section reads as follows:

Early November saw the creation of the National Council of Korean Labor Unions (NCKLU) and its endorsement of PRK and its program. December saw the creation of the National League of Peasant Unions, the Korean Democratic Youth League, and the Women's League, and their support of the PRK.

The Youth League links to a North Korean organisation, but the others are red links. The Women's League seems to be intended to link to a North Korean organisation, probably the Socialist Women's Union of Korea. While no doubt these organisations aspired to be countrywide, it would be good to know what they amounted to in 1945, and what their support meant since the KPR was basically defunct at this point. In addition, the placement of the section at the end of article is odd chronologically...--Jack Upland (talk) 23:42, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

Inconsistencies about the duration of the republic

The lead says the PRK was "forcibly dissolved" in the South in January 1946 (without giving a citation), whereas the infobox says the PRK was "abolished" in February 1946 (apparently referring to events in the North). However, sources say that Hodge outlawed the PRK in December 1945, and there is nothing to say that the Soviet occupation "abolished" the republic.

On Lyuh Woon-Hyung's page, it says, "In September 1945, Lyuh proclaimed the establishment of the Korean People's Republic and became its vice-premier. In October, he stepped down under pressure from the United States Military Government, and organized the People's Party of Korea, becoming its chairman". The infobox here states he was "Chairman of the National People's Representative Conference" 1945–1946. This conference is not mentioned elsewhere in the article.

The lead also says:

The People's Republic of Korea (PRK) was a short-lived provisional government that was organized with the aim to take over control of Korea shortly after the surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of World War II. It operated as a government from late August to early September 1945 until the United States Army Military Government in Korea was established in the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula...

The dates in this seem wrong. Japan surrendered on 6 September, the US landed in Korea on 8 September, and the republic was proclaimed on 12 September. There doesn't seem any evidence that it operated as a national government. The Japanese occupation government remained in place until the arrival of Soviet and US troops. The answer to the fundamental question here seems to be that the republic never existed. There was an attempt to create this republic, but it failed because the occupation forces intervened. An infobox is an entirely unhelpful way of summing this up, as it creates a factoid that the PRK existed from 1945 to 1946, which has been replicated in infoboxes elsewhere.--Jack Upland (talk) 03:02, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

I have partly fixed these problems.--Jack Upland (talk) 08:21, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Potsdam

MB has changed the text to read: "After the American arrival in September 1945, as agreed at the Potsdam Conference..."I don't think that there was anything wrong with the word "landing", but this is trivial. The claim about the Potsdam Conference is not made in the conference's article and is not mentioned in Division of Korea. As the cited journal article says, most sources say that the decision on dividing Korea was made on August 10-11, and this is the date we use in Division of Korea. The cited article concludes, "Considering the circumstances of the time, there is little possibility that a secret pact was made at Potsdam, but decisive evidence for its absence has not been discovered so far". This then is a tenuous theory, which we don't need to mention here. This article could do with more about the division, but I don't think this belongs under "Development in the South".--Jack Upland (talk) 21:39, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

The abstract of the journal article says "conventional accounts" use Aug 11, but "may be a deliberate cover-up for actual deliberations had taken place earlier. Interviews with Lieutenant General Hull reveal that the idea of the 38th parallel line was created at an earlier date, around July 25, during the Potsdam Conference." I think "not secret pact" reference means that the 38th parallel was not a formal agreement at Potsdam. The abstract ends "The present study concludes that while the actual draft of the 38th parallel dividing line was confirmed and formulated to the superior authorities by Lincoln and others on August 11, the plan was devised earlier, around July 25."

I'll take out mention of Potsdam in this article because "agreement" is too strong, but I think this study is well reasoned and should be presented over in Division of Korea. MB 22:49, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

Well, maybe, but it should be based on the article itself, not the abstract.--Jack Upland (talk) 00:16, 10 February 2019 (UTC)

Ministers of PRK

Somehow my edit was reverted because I listed head of state of PRK as Syngman Rhee. I found that 'de jure' leader of PRK is listed as Lyuh Woon-hyung. So I made edit from Korean sources I can find, but it seems that I should have explained about PRK's establishment, and that's why I listed Syngman Rhee as Chairman of PRK. It has no relations with Provisional Government of Republic of Korea.

September 6, 1945, Central People's Committee(중앙인민위원회) with 55 members, 12 candidate members, 12 consultants, which would function as supreme goverment of PRK, was elected by Nationwide Congress of Representative People's Committees(전국인민위원회 대표자대회, composed from representives from regional People's Committees(인민위원회)) at Kyunggi Girls' High School(경기여고, Located then Jaedong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea(서울특별시 종로구 재동)). List of ministers are here with corresponding Korean Wikipedia articles.

Chairman: Syngman Rhee

Vice-Chairman: Lyuh Woon-hyung

Prime Minister: Heo Heon(ko) (Later Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly of DPRK, and President of the Kim Il-sung University)

Minister of Internal Affairs: Kim Koo (Deputy: Cho Dong-ho(ko), Kim Gye-rim)

Minster of Foreign Affairs: Kim Kyu-sik (Deputy: Choi Geun-woo(ko), Kang Chin)

Minister of Finance: Cho Man-sik (Deputy: Park Mun-gyu(ko), Kang Byung-do)

Minister of Military: Kim Won-bong (Deputy: Kim Se-yong, Chang Gi-wook)

Minister of Economy: Ha Pil-won (Deputy: Kim Hyung-seon(ko), Cheong Tae-sik(ko))

Minister of Agriculture: Kang Gi-deok(ko) (Deputy: Yu Chuk-woon(Later Minister of Coal Industry of DPRK), Yi Gwang)

Minister of Health: Yi Man-kyu(ko) (Deputy: Yi Cheong-yun, Kim Jeon-gwon)

Minister of Transportation: Hong Nam-pyo (Deputy: Yi Sun-geun(Later member of Provisional People's Committee of North Korea), Cheong Jong-geun)

Minister of Security: Choi Yong-dal(ko) (Deputy: Mu Chong, Yi Gi-seok)

Minister of Justice: Kim Byeong-ro(ko) (Deputy: Lee Seoung-yeop(ko), Cheong Chin-tae)

Minister of Culture and Education: Kim Seong-su (Deputy: Kim Tae-jun(ko), Kim Ki-cheon)

Minister of Propaganda: Yi Gwan-sul(ko) (Deputy: Yi Yeo-seong(ko), Seo Jung-seok(ko))

Minister of Communication: Sin Ik-hui (Deputy: Kim Cheol-soo(ko), Cho Du-won(ko))

Minister of Labour: Yi Wi-sang (Deputy: Kim Sang-hyeok, Yi Sun-geum(Younger sister of Yi Gwan-sul))

General Secretary of Central People's Committee: Yi Gang-guk(ko) (Member of German KPD) (Deputy: Choi Sung-hwan)

Minister of Government Legislation: Choi Ik-han (Deputy: Kim Yong-am)

Minister of Planning: Cheong Baek(ko) (Deputy: Ahn Ki-sung)

While lot of ministers were right-wing or even anti-communist, list of ministers were written by then General Secretary of Communist Party of Korea, Pak Hon-yong. One-third of members of CPC were either socialist or communist, and important ministries like ministry of propaganda or ministry of security were in hands of communist activists. It was because of Popular front policy of CPK(named August Thesis - 8월 테제). However, Syngman Rhee, after returning from U.S, refused to take office as chairman, while Kim Koo and Kim Kyu-sik refused to take part in PRK during 28th November, 1945.

References(In Korean) http://db.history.go.kr/id/dh_001_1945_11_28_0040 http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Index?contents_id=E0052184 https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=548886&cid=46626&categoryId=46626 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 221.140.153.170 (talk) 15:38, 8 February 2019 (UTC)

You may be confused with the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea! Vif12vf/Tiberius (talk) 16:13, 8 February 2019 (UTC)

No, not at all. Provisional Government, also under Kim Koo as Chairman of Provisional State Affairs Commission(Elected by Provisional Parliament), was 'hostile' with PRK. Lyuh Woon-hyung and other Korean independence activists who remained in mainland Korea(While Provisional Government goes to Chongqing) wasn't friendly with Provisional Government at all. Also, comparing the fact that he was elected as leader of PRK with Syngman Rhee as a leader of Provisional Government is completely anachronistic, Syngman Rhee was impeached from President of Provisional Government at March 21th, 1925(Due to his letter to American Government about request of establishment of American mandate government at Korea) - while PRK was established at August 1945. How could I confuse 20 year difference?

Anyway I removed Syngman Rhee as Head of State from Article, and added some details to prevent confusions. If there's anything that seems to be an error, please write it at here - we don't have to revert edit multiple times. It's far better to reach agreement at here.

221.140.153.170 (talk) 15:53, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for the edit. It would be good go add sources if you can. The difficulty with the PRK is that it proclaimed a lot of things but didn't last long.--Jack Upland (talk) 00:27, 10 February 2019 (UTC)