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The US protecting South Korea, per their treaty, is a FAR cry from the Japanese invading and enslaving them. You might want to ask Koreans what they think about the period that they were a Japanese colony, and if that is better or worse than their situation now.
So North Korea is better off under the Kims than under Japanese rule?
Taiwanese hate Mainland Chinese for a lot of things, not just politics. The behaviors and attitude of Mainland chinese are also reasons for the hate.
Taiwanese's most hated thing is Mainland Chinese claiming Taiwan as part of PRC. Almost all Taiwanese disagree with this. They will say Taiwan is ROC or Taiwan is just Taiwan, nothing to do with the PRC
Most young people in mainland China do not care if Taiwanese don't want to be a part of PRC.
However, some Taiwanese already use racist terms to attack mainland Chinese. It means two things (1) they do not consider themselves in the same ethnic group as Chinese any more, and (2) the hatred is way beyond politics or just "bad manners".
That being said, young people's opinion can also change when they get older. Most people become less aggressive and less radical when they get older.
We aren't discussing North Korea here at all. The original comment I replied to referred specifically to the US and South Korea.
Syngman Rhee could be as bad as the Japanese if not worse. He was so bad that most South Koreans preferred the Communists during the Korean War. If you want compare death tolls that the Americans and Japanese inflicted on Koreans, 1.5 to 2 million civilians were killed by the firebombings in North Korea while the highest death toll that i have seen that the Japanese inflicted on Koreans is 800K from appalling conditions in forced labor. The Japanese inflicted those deaths over a period of 5-6 years while the Americans inflicted their deaths over a period of 3 years. The Japanese were cruel to Koreans but I would say they were nowhere near as bloodthirsty as the Americans when it came to inflicting deaths. The Japanese at the very least had the decency not to bomb a dam and starve Koreans to death.
Syngman Rhee could be as bad as the Japanese if not worse. He was so bad that most South Koreans preferred the Communists during the Korean War. If you want compare death tolls that the Americans and Japanese inflicted on Koreans, 1.5 to 2 million civilians were killed by the firebombings in North Korea while the highest death toll that i have seen that the Japanese inflicted on Koreans is 800K from appalling conditions in forced labor. The Japanese inflicted those deaths over a period of 5-6 years while the Americans inflicted their deaths over a period of 3 years. The Japanese were cruel to Koreans but I would say they were nowhere near as bloodthirsty as the Americans when it came to inflicting deaths. The Japanese at the very least had the decency not to bomb a dam and starve Koreans to death.
Both cannot be compared. Japanese have made human experiments and that alone is disgusting. Let alone all the stupid attempts to destroy Koreans roots by burning books.
Russians and Americans screwed up by creating a war in the peninsula but it is quite clear that South Korea is much better right now, with its economic power, rather than being under the Japanese rules.
You seem to evaluate the "hardness" only by counting the number of deaths. But you compare a colonization period, with all the humiliations and attempts to re-write History done by Japanese with a war, even though "created" by Russians and Americans? Really? Who compares a war with a colonization period?
Rhee was too kind. If he was really bad, he could have killed all the conspirators in Korea who were helping Japan, a bit like what happened in France, and that alone would have saved a lot of the frustrations the country is going through right now.
Syngman Rhee could be as bad as the Japanese if not worse. He was so bad that most South Koreans preferred the Communists during the Korean War. If you want compare death tolls that the Americans and Japanese inflicted on Koreans, 1.5 to 2 million civilians were killed by the firebombings in North Korea while the highest death toll that i have seen that the Japanese inflicted on Koreans is 800K from appalling conditions in forced labor. The Japanese inflicted those deaths over a period of 5-6 years while the Americans inflicted their deaths over a period of 3 years. The Japanese were cruel to Koreans but I would say they were nowhere near as bloodthirsty as the Americans when it came to inflicting deaths.
1.5m is the total number of North Korean civilians killed and wounded by all belligerents, and not the total number dead due to American firebombings.
Lots of those were killed by South Korean soldiers - let's not forget the Hangang Bridge Bombing, or the Jeju, Namyangju, Gangwa, Geochang massacres. Let's also not whitewash the North Korean Communists' aggressions against their own people. Summary executions of people thought to be "sympathizers" happened all the same, and they perpetrated such acts as massacring hundreds of doctors, patients, and nurses at the Seoul University hospital.
Let's also not forget that there were also a million South Korean citizens who were killed and wounded. Do you assume that they were mostly killed by Americans? Do their lives matter less, to you?
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The Japanese at the very least had the decency not to bomb a dam and starve Koreans to death.
Kind of an obtuse thing to say when you take into account what the Japanese actually did to the Koreans.
Although the Japanese occupation of Korea was often oppressive, I'd say Korea is overall better off under Japanese rule than Chinese suzerainty.
After all, the social and physical infrastructure established by Japan in Korea laid the basic foundations for the modern South Korean nation. China would probably undertake only limited efforts in developing Korea, given its internal strife and lack of consensus towards the modernization process.
Much infrastructure were destroyed in the Korean War.
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Originally Posted by fellowjoe
Although the Japanese occupation of Korea was often oppressive, I'd say Korea is overall better off under Japanese rule than Chinese suzerainty.
After all, the social and physical infrastructure established by Japan in Korea laid the basic foundations for the modern South Korean nation. China would probably undertake only limited efforts in developing Korea, given its internal strife and lack of consensus towards the modernization process.
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