Chapter IX: The Korean Summer. (Part III)
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson.
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Sinuiju HQ, Joseon Restoration Army controlled territory. ~ August 11th, 1957.
The situation within the leadership of the Joseon Restoration Army was a complex one, there were numerous debates going on regarding the status of land ownership and the best way to handle the opposition they met at their territory. President Cho had restored the ambitious land reform implemented by the defeated Democratic People's Republic of Korea and even expanded it to the southern part of the peninsula, the decision had proved to be quite unpopular with the landholders and the wealthiest members of Korean society. General Kim Suk-won had maintained communication with Crown Prince Yi Un, he had expressed his support to the idea of reverting the land reforms that had been carried out, nonetheless, several officers within the leadership voiced their own concerns, North Korea' s population was the most left-leaning and small militias had already appeared to fight against them. Abolishing the land reforms before defeating the Busan government wasn't seen as the best course of action, not only would they fuel the rage in the countryside, but they would have to divert resources from the conflict that would soon start against the junta under Park Chung-hee.
Another reason for the complex situation within the Joseon Restoration Army was the recent deposition of president Pak, the Constitutional Defence Army under the other two members of the Hanahoe's Triumvirate had supported Park Chung-hee to take power, their original intent. The Hero of Seoul was now the leader of the nation and the consequences of that were reflected in the monarchist's cohesion, numerous soldiers defected to the constitutionalist side while officers began having doubts about not only their actions but the nation's security. It was clear for general Kim Suk-won, the only option he had was waging war against the Busan regime, there would be no negotiation and he had to act while he still had enough strength. General Kim reluctantly chose to respect the land reform, otherwise he would not only have the peasants against him but his own staff members and that would severely weaken his own forces. Ironically, the monarchist greatest achievement had also played against them, taking Seoul meant more resources diverted to stabilizing that part of the front and even then the capital was plagued by resistance: ranging from some democracy activists to Park's sympathizers, the monarchy had been widely discredited.
"General, our forces are slowly infiltrating the security perimeter established at Pyongyang", said the officer in charge of the Pyongyang operation. Kim Suk-won knew that without the city their position at Sinuiju was at danger, they were completely encircled by the Constitutional Defence Army and if they desired to they could easily siege him down with most of his forces away. "We have recommended the use of barges to evacuate some elements from Seoul in order to strengthen our own position here or to support the forces that will take Pyongyang".
Even if Sinuiju was encircled there was an advantage within the Joseon Restoration Army, Seoul had provided some strategic depth and the Constitutionalist advance would be surely focused on retaking the capital city, this meant that Pyongyang could easily fall in monarchist hands before Park's forces could arrive to stop them. But there was another reason to be careful with the operations, admiral Soon Won-yil and the entire naval branch of the armed forces was behind Park Chung-hee, this in turn provided the constitutionalist forces at the northern part of the peninsula the possibility of further support either in supplies or reinforcements. That was the key difference between the operational flexibility each had, here at Sinuiju they spoke about barges but down south at Busan they had numerous ships and specialized transports to move around their troops.
"What abou-", a fit of coughing suddenly interrupted his words. General Kim wasn't young at all, but he had been quite healthy overall, he thought it could be connected to the recent reports of flu outbreaks in some places. He dismissed that concern, a flu was just that, a flu, he had far more important matters to attend to than a mere sickness. Even though he had been feverish last night he was still there, working without a break, fighting without rest. "What about the forces that will infiltrate Kanggye?" That was his real concern, Kanggye was the constitutionalist stronghold in the north, being located at the merging point of four rivers, heavily fortified and with big enough installations to base the entire ROK Air Force; it was crucial for his plans.
"We haven't heard from them in a while, we can assume the worst," that usually meant two things; captured or defection. Unknowingly to them there was a new explanation for the sudden disappearance of some soldiers, with the flu spreading quickly due to the constant movement of troops many fell ill or just abandoned their posts in order to return with their families or at least get away from the growing number of cases. The top brass of the monarchist movement had focused so much on viewing Park as their greatest threat, while microorganisms were slowly spreading chaos and weakening their own forces. Even though the American forces in the peninsula had refused to involve themselves in the struggle it was no secret that they had been supplying Park Chung-hee's forces, but they had also offered to provide medical assistance to general Kim, only to be called "opportunists".
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Modern History: Korea. - Wade Barnett.
Park Chung-hee agreed that another conflict would inflict material and political damage to the peninsula, unstability
could eventually brew up another Communist inspired movement and that was something he wanted to avoid.
The memories of what had been the Korean War were still fresh in the minds of the population, even those officers and commanders that were now driving the country to the brink of civil war could still remember the horrors they saw during the conflict. And that hadn't been all, after the country was reunited a fierce insurgency took place, fueled by the divisive policies encouraged by Syngman Rhee. With those horrible months in mind it was evident that no one wanted to risk the nation once more, Park Chung-hee also felt that another war would facilitate the Sino-Soviet interests in the peninsula, after all, widespread chaos could eventually allow the revival of the dreaded KPA and their supporters. With that in mind it's easier to understand why he chose to offer amnesty while delivering his ultimatum to general Kim Suk-won. Unfortunately for him and the rest of the Korean Peninsula the decision made at Sinuiju condemned the country to another war, Kim Suk-won and his closest supporters had been vocal enough to silence the opposition within the Joseon Restoration Army and with his troops ready to take Pyongyang hostilities started by August 17th, 1957.
Just two months away from the seventh anniversary of the end of the Korean War, conflict was once again raging through the peninsula. An overwhelming force attacked the Constitutionalist garrison at Pyongyang, which had been severely weakened after mid-night operations of sabotage took place by the units that managed to infiltrate the perimeter. The local commander panicked due to the strength of the monarchist assault and the sudden sniper campaign that left most of his staff dead, fearing for his own life he chose to order a retreat, the perimeter collapsed from the inside out, the Constitutionalist forces withdrew towards Kanggye; their northern fortress. Meanwhile, the encircled forces at the shared border with the Soviet Union and China organized themselves for the planned evacuation, admiral Soon would provide the ships for those encircled units, their destination wasn't determined yet, it all depended on the success of Park's offensive against the monarchist forces at the capital. On the same day that hostilities between the two sides started, Generalissimo Park led an army consisting of four divisions and numbering around 30,000 soldiers against a sixth of his force that was located at Seoul's outskirts.
The monarchist garrison present at Seoul had a smaller number of motorized vehicles and personnel, but they had a numerical advantage regarding tanks, fortunately for the Constitutionalists they had more anti-tank equipment and their opponents lacked both spare parts and enough training. Since many defected to Park's side, fresh soldiers along draftees were swiftly incorporated into the military of the monarchists, this was directly translated into a lower combative effectiveness compared to the professionalized forces under Park Chung-hee. At the same time Generalissimo Park incorporated some of the shady structures of the Hanahoe into the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation, some of the officers had organized a branch of military intelligence, though surprisingly enough they had failed to foresee Kim Suk-won's intentions. With the nascent intelligence service incorporated he tried to establish contact with prominent figures within the JRA leadership, he guaranteed them the offers of amnesty in exchange of Kim Suk-won, however, no one at Sinuiju was ready to act. They considered Park's invitation, but they decided to keep their options open, in case of facing reversals they would accept the proposal and launch a coup against general Kim.
By August 24th the Constitutionalists managed to recover Seoul, routing the monarchist garrison left at the capital city, two days before that the JRA had managed
to consolidate their control at Pyongyang. Surprisingly enough, despite the numerous advantages posessed by Park's forces they suffered almost half of the
damaged they inflicted to the Seoul garrison composed by close to five thousand troops.
The Battle for Seoul proved to be a victory for the Constitutionalist cause, but the American advisors at Korea were impressed (in a negative way) with the performance of the ROK Army. Fighting a force six times smaller than theirs and they had sustained almost a half of the casualties their enemies suffered, though fortunately it seemed that the mobile tactics implemented on the ROK Army were proving to be useful. None of the Constitutionalist tanks had been lost and the gunners had even used their cannons to sink numerous barges that were trying to retreat out of Seoul. But the Generalissimo's real goal wasn't the capital city per se, he quickly moved with some of his units towards Incheon, there he would meet admiral Soon. The evacuated troops from the northeast would stay at Seoul with some reinforcements while Generalissimo Park assembled a task force for his next ambitious offensive against the monarchists. With American help he also organized some relief and medical support for Seoul's population, the monarchist's mismanage of the city had allowed the cases of flu to severely increase, Park knew that with the current conflict it would spread even more than on normal circumstances but he would try his best to mitigate the propagation of the illness.
In a move quite reminiscent to the Korean War, Park Chung-hee directed his forces towards Nampo, a coastal city quite close to Pyongyang. The JRA had obviously used those barges to slowly infiltrate Nampo and advance towards Pyongyang, but now with his overwhelming naval and air support the Generalissimo would teach them a lesson from their own playbook. By August 25th an estimated number of 62,000 Constitutionalist soldiers engaged against barely 15,000 monarchist defenders, as the operation carried on a new offensive also took place against Sariwon and Wonsan in an attempt to prevent the JRA troops from reinforcing Pyongyang. The battered remnants of the Seoul garrison were unable to mount a successful defense with the troops at Sariwon, but they succeeded on inflicting 200 more casualties than the ones they suffered against the advancing forces by the point of their retreat on September 1st. But the greatest news came from Pyongyang, the monarchists gave up on August 30th after suffering a staggering amount of 6,500 casualties while Park's forces only lost close to 1,500. After news about the retreat from Sariwon and Park's offensive against Pyongyang reached Wonsan, the soldiers there mutinied against their officers and surrendered to the Constitutionalist Defence Army. This was the reversal many officers had been waiting for, it was time to end this charade.
With the Wonsan mutiny, Sariwon's retreat and Park's offensive against Pyongyang the dye had been cast for Kim
Suk-won's forces. Sympathizers of Park Chung-hee and opportunist officers chose to distance themselves and
jump the sinking monarchist ship while they still had a chance. A swift coup at Sinuiju ended the
monarchist restoration attempt and with it; the Korean Summer.
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Seoul, Republic of Korea. ~ September 10th, 1957.
Despite being the new president of the Republic of Korea, Park Chung-hee had been absent from the capital for several days, he had just stayed briefly for his official inauguration and then he marched northwards once more. Many had believed that Park Chung-hee would once again leave the military now that he had been named president, but that hadn't been the case, he made no comments about it and just stated that "Korea is in a fragile position, the country's security shall go first". That had been troubling for Ki Seung-min but she was also rather surprised, she had thought that Park and his conservative allies would leave her out of the cabinet, but instead of doing so she kept her post as Minister of Construction and Transportation along being assigned to lead the border improvement efforts that Park Chung-hee had asked for. Minister Ki thought it could be an antagonizing action towards China, after all, president Cho had always tried to stay in-between the two Cold War blocs. But Park Chung-hee had been clear on his stances, only through cooperation with the United States would Korea develop and stay truly independent. So, naturally, she felt the militarization of the border could endanger the fragile status quo with China.
She shrugged those thoughts out of her mind, after all, no matter what her opinion was on the subject it was something that had to be done. There was something she couldn't deny, it was peaceful to leave the Summer chaos behind, ever since president Cho had been murdered she had been worried about Korea's future, her own future and her own life. But there were still missing dots all over the place, there were questions left unanswered and she felt curious about them. How had Kim Suk-won acquired enough funds and supplies for his army? President Cho's death had been really a coincidence? But there was something she couldn't stop wondering about, no one talked about it and they preferred to ignore it, but her curiosity knew no limits... Where was former president Pak? After Park Chung-hee advanced towards Gwangju no one saw neither heard about president Pak any more, what had happened there? However, before she could continue wondering about those mysterious events, someone rushed into the office waving a paper in his hand; the boy was rather sweaty and his face revealed the fear he was feeling at the moment. The other ministers looked up and met his worried eyes as well, silently expecting him to say something, those seconds passed as years:
"Chinese soldiers are crossing the Yalu!"
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So, here we have it, the last installment of the Korean Summer chapter and what we can consider the beginning of one of the most interesting and important arcs within the AAR. Will president Cho's desires and legacy be uphold by this new leader? How will Korea fare now on? Are there more CIA machinations on the wait list?
Since I played this part of the AAR before learning more about the 1957-58 Flu pandemic the mentions are rather scarce, however, I will try to mention it a bit more on next chapters. I truly hope you enjoy this chapter as it was one of the funniest I played, even though making the events for the Korean Summer was a bit tiring I must say it was something I truly enjoyed and enriched this world by showing the political complexities in this united Korea.
If there's any grammatical mistake please tell me so I can correct it and if you want to ask about something feel free to do so, as well, if you want to suggest something about the plausibility, go ahead!
Thanks for the patience dear read-AARs, enjoy!