[KS] North Korea says multiracialism is poison

[Balazs Szalontai]

Dear Terry (if I may),
   
  the People's Liberation Army did play a very important role in the reconstruction of war-torn, labor-short North Korea, but I doubt that it had any significant effect on demographic growth (if it did, it may have manifested itself mainly in the form of unwanted pregnancies). The presence and gradual withdrawal of Chinese troops was coordinated primarily with the post-1953 buildup of the KPA and also with the partial withdrawal of US troops from South Korea (the latter was similarly accompanied by a South Korean military buildup). By July 1954, eight of the nineteen PLA armies stationed in the DPRK left the country. Pyongyang seems to have had two main reasons for asking a complete troop withdrawal from Beijing: 1) It wanted to protect North Korea's soveignty (after all, in September 1956 China put strong pressure on the KWP leadership over the issue of Ch'oe Ch'ang-ik and other anti-Kim Il Sung dissidents). 2) It hoped that if the Chinese troops leave the DPRK, the
 American troops might similarly leave the ROK (a hope that remained unfulfilled). Wartime losses, which were indeed extremely serious, were to be replaced by the introduction of strongly pro-natalist policies, rather than by asking the Chinese soldiers to do what Koreans were expected to do. When the labor shortage continued to persist, Kim Il Sung asked Mao to let Manchurian Koreans move to the DPRK (some 60,000 did), and also did his best to invite the Koreans living in Japan to "repatriate" to the DPRK.
   
  Best,
  Balazs     


        st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }                I have heard from people in China that the Chinese army, with much benevolence, left many soldiers behind in N Korea after the war in 1953 to do construction projects as well as marry local women and father children so as to repopulate North Korea. The NK leaders were very ashamed of this which led to asking the Chinese to leave in 1958. Today, many Chinese people tell this story, no matter how much is actually true. They feel the North Koreans have not been properly grateful for all the Fatherly efforts they put in. Of course, it is important to realize that there are many Korean ethnic people in NE China. Even in China, with their distinct minority people designation, it seems to me that there is not much mixing with other ethnic groups. However, there does not seem to be a stigma attached to it.
   
  Regards – Terry Petty
   



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