Douglas Kim's Reviews > The Origins of the Korean War, Volume I: Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes, 1945-1947

Although Cumings' later books (this was published in 1981) are more widely available and much more commercial and easier to digest, this book is an essential and rare one about the interwar period in Korea. This is essentially a textbook (I imagine Cumings used it in his class curriculums), but you can tell not clearly taught often as I had to peruse a rare bookstore online to find a copy (as well as for Volume 2). While it is indeed dry and academic, this is an extremely important book not simply because of its rarity, but because of insights into the Cold War and America's immediate policies as it began to take over the British empire with dollar imperialism and also being the Soviet Union's main antagonist after World War II.

The first volume primarily focuses on the first two years in Korea south of the 38th parallel after the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945. Cumings shows that before the arrival of the Americans, the Korean people in the South essentially formed mini Soviets and left wing politics were extremely popular among the people, as the Japanese made communism illegal and heavily promoted anti-communism during its 35 year reign over Korea. Though deals were made with the other big powers over Korea, America essentially used its military might and right wing American puppets as well as Japanese collaborators to keep the populace in line, even working with former Japanese colonial administrators. The Japanese controlled Korean police were reinstated and strengthened to force the South Korean people to accept these right wing leaders while imposing martial law with a military government, while the Soviets had a much more hands off approach with the government in the North, as the people naturally gravitated towards the government leaders who were mostly guerrilla fighters or resistance leaders against the Japanese occupation.

This book is also important because it is essentially America's first trial run for neoimperialism, a guinea pig that would shape American foreign policy for the rest of the century and beyond. Any notion that the Americans were in South Korea for the benefit of South Koreans is immediately squashed in this book, as Cumings shows not only the callous nature of the US military using former Japanese collaborators, but also their open racism, which besides obvious Orientalist views, went as far as to say that Korean people were worse than the Japanese, simply because they didn't obey their barbaric demands.

If anyone wants to understand the Korean War, the American policy in the Global South during the Cold War, this is a must read.