Argumentative essay on North Korea (Essay Sample)

Argumentative Essay on Korea
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The struggle for independence took various forms with some countries choosing violence as their way to demand the liberation. Others like India choose boycotting as a way of decolonization, and ended up with the same results as those who had fiercely resisted colonization. Japan is thought to have ruled Korea from 1910 until sometimes in 1945 (Suzuki, 2007). As with the countries that chose violence, Korea violently opposed Japan’s rule, but the latter’s superiority subdued the feeble resistance from the former. Eventually, Korea had independence, and many expected the country would be stabilized. However, that was disrupted as wrangles erupted with one side opposing the newly-established government. Analysts have claimed that Korea was not ready for independence while others state that Japan is responsible for the chaos in post-independent Korea. In this paper, the position taken is that it is poor leadership that is to blame for Korea’s woes.
Whereas it is possible Japan may have had an influence in trying to destabilize Korea, it is important to realize that leadership is responsible for all that occurs in a country. The genesis of animosity between the two countries could be traced back in the early 1900s when Japan engaged Korea in an illegal treaty. Even after granting some independence to Korea in 1945, the actual freedom came in 1948. Apparently, the US military played a pivotal role in delaying freedom to the Koreans as they lowered its flag in 1945 replacing it with Japan’s (Suzuki, 2007). Despite these humiliations and pain, Korea’s situation is its leaders’ responsibility.
Even though the country suffered greatly in terms of oppression, this was the same script in most, if not, all countries where struggle was occurring. Many countries after gaining independence, shuttled the way forward to improve themselves economically. A perfect example is Singapore, which has today become an integral part of the world economy. Therefore, notwithstanding the perceived atrocities Korea may have suffered, the bottom-line is that its leaders did little to unite its citizens.
Instead, any person perceived to be anti-government was subjected to an insurmountable torture with some being detained without trial. Shockingly, others were arrested without warranties if the state machineries thought of them as leaders of the opposition ("South Korea - Seoul's Responses" n.d.). Consequently, the country’s development agenda was not pursued. Actually, it was considered illegal to access materials like books and radio, which the government thought would incite people against it. When other countries were busy trying to figure out a way to have a consensus on some contentious issues, Korea was busy fighting its own citizens.
In light of this, it would then be pretty unfair to lay blame squarely on the outside forces instead of on the right individuals. It is not in any way being implied here that other countries’ interference with Korea’s internal matters has not complicated the situation; indeed they have. Be that as it may, the Korean government failed to listen to grievances forwarded by the so-called opposition (Won, 2011). Moreover, the women’s rights were not observed, and this made the situation more volatile (De Souza, 2014)
In conclusion, it factual to state that Korea went through a tumultuous period in the hands of Japan. Their demands for freedom were not addressed until 1945, and even then it was not full independence. Its nationals suffered mistreatment and abuse at the hands of the masters and this quite unfortunate. Nonetheless, the imperative thing to understand is that many other countries u...