A Study Of U.S. Western Orientation Propaganda Policy Towards South Korea In Early Cold War Era (1945-1969)

After World War II,the U.S.army occupied southern half of the Korean peninsula and reconstructed its economic and social systems.The Korean peninsula,historically part of the Chinese tributary system,was colonized by Japan in 1910,and Confucian culture and Japanese colonialism prevailed on the Korean society.The original purpose of the reconstruction policy of USAFIK was mainly to eradicate the residual colonialism of Japan.As the Cold War spread from Europe to Asia,the USAFIK's policy in the southern Korean began to change,and anti-communism became the priority job in the process of building southern Korean regime.It can be said that before the outbreak of the Korean War,the ideological reconstruction policy of the United States towards South Korea mainly inherited the consistent idea in history of the United States.The idea is that developing science and technology then transform mind.The United States wanted to provide technician assistance to South Korea in order to stem the rise of communism in South Korea society.The outbreak of Korean War in June 1950 disrupted this U.S.policy.During the Korean War,the United States used behavioral science basing propaganda to win the heart and minds of South Korean soldiers and general public.Such propaganda profoundly influenced South Koreans' perception.After the end of the Korean War,the United States policy towards South Korea gradually transformed from a state of war to a state of development.The Korean peninsula has become the place of “face to face” competition between the American and Soviet lifestyles.The whole world,especially Asia,was watching this competition.South Korea's success had been a key estimating way of assessing the success of western institutions in both free world of Asia and the Third world.In the 1960 s,the United States showed great interest in theory of modernization practicing in South Korea,and believed that the competition of development mode had become an important part of the competition between east and west.In order to enhance the confidence of the third world countries to follow the western development path,the United States took the west as the model and devoted all its efforts to the reconstructed South Korea with the western model.However,too much underlining economic brought obstacles to the future development of South Korea.This paper is divided into three parts: introduction,content and conclusion.The introduction explains the origin of the subject,the current research status,research significance,research difficulty and research innovation.The content consists of four chapters,with one narrative line and two sub-narrative lines in parallel,focusing on the United States' ideological orientation propaganda policy towards South Korea in the overall Cold War strategic policy and Asian policy of American Foreign policy.Specific content as follows:The first chapter mainly elaborated the occupation policy at the beginning of the reconstruction in southern Korea.The United States played an important role in the early reconstruction of South Korea,especially in guiding the economic,political,cultural and social aspects.After the establishment of ROK,social development of South Korea gradually stabilized,then United States sent a large military advisory group to South Korea,which,on the one hand,made up for the shortage of South Korean technical personnel,on the other hand,spread American culture.For the propaganda to the ordinary people,the USAFIK took advantage of the unique conditions to show a large number of American films to South Korean people in order to change their minds and realize the interests of American.Chapter two mainly discusses the psychological warfare carried out by the United States on the Korean peninsula during the Korean War.U.S.Army's experience of psychological war in Korea stemmed from World War II.After World War II,United States had negative perception about peacetime propaganda.As the Cold War situation between east and west became increasingly clear,the U.S.government recognized propaganda in peacetime.The Korean War was the reapplication of psychological warfare propaganda to the battlefield after it was transferred to peacetime.Although the psychological warfare in peacetime is different from that at wartime,there were still numerous connections between the two.In other words,war propaganda became an extreme means to verify the effectiveness of peacetime propaganda.Meanwhile,war propaganda also provided a new research paradigm and means of implementation for peacetime propaganda.In the case of South Korea,the United Statues application behavioral science to the battlefield has had a significant impact on changing the minds of South Koreans.Chapter three mainly demonstrates the motivation and content of American aid to South Korea after the Korean War.Although South Korea has been a staunch ally of United States in Asia,American economic aid to South Korea is not for free.With the changes of the Asian situation and the rise of the third world countries,U.S.shifted its strategic demanding for South Korea from military to economic need.The United States hoped that the rapid economic development of South Korea could counter the influence of China's development.In the process of assisting South Korea,the United States felt that due to the shortage of South Korean experts,the policies formulated by the United States could not be understood and adopted by South Korea government.To help South Korea better understand American policies,the United States began training Koreans in related technical fields and supporting South Korean universities in cultural fields.The fourth chapter explains the relationship between modernization theory and Korean development model.1960 s was a time of changing in the context of Cold War.The split between China and the Soviet Union and the increasing Chinese influence in the third world had a great impact on American foreign policy.The United States believed that the Third world countries were undergoing a transformation from tradition to modernity in the process of seeking development.If the United States could not control this transformation situation,then these countries were likely to embark on the path of communist development way.The attraction of the Chinese model to Asian countries had forced the United States to find a new way to create a model for western modernization in South Korea.But the U.S.modernization driving in South Korea had focused too much on the economy,leaving the country's political problems unresolved.The conclusion hoping to answer the following questions: first,how did American define the U.S.-South Korea relationship? The United States has always believed that the military value of South Korea is not as more important as its political value.Although the Korean war was the first hot war that the United States was involved in during the Cold War,from the policy analysis of the United States in the war,we can make conclude that the intention of the United States was to contain China and the effective policy was to exert pressure from the outside.In short,America's strategic position in South Korea is to confront China politically.Second,how did American view South Korea? American policy towards South Korea from fuzzy to clear,in the process of interaction with Korean society,American always thought that South Korea had many social problems,and always thought of South Korea's traditional as a hinder of its modernization goal,this was a kind of typical "Orientalism",American intellectuals became the major source of this kind of cognition.Finally,how did American impact on Korean development pattern? From the perspective of national interest,the United States transformed this Orientalism into a driving force to aid the economic development in South Korea,which inevitably leaded to the unbalanced development of South Korea society.The American idea of emphasizing technology and focusing increase speed was accepted by South Koreans,who turned a blind eye to the political problems in the process of development,resulting in the unbalanced development of the political and economic of South Korea.