http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070502/ap_on_re_as/skorea_japan_collaborators;_ylt=Aigo9Ha.uOT5mc6mYu VgR0cBxg8F

SEOUL, South Korea - The South Korean government announced Wednesday its first-ever plan to seize assets gained by alleged Korean collaborators during Japanese colonial rule as part of efforts to reconcile with its past more than 60 years after the end of the peninsula's occupation.

I don't know which is more dictatorial state Empire of Japan before WW2 or Korea.

I guess Roh Moo-Hyun launches for developing dictatorial regime, because term of regime will end in 2008.

A civilian panel in 2005 accused former President Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea for 18 years after a 1961 coup, of being a Japanese collaborator for serving as an officer in the Japanese army during colonial rule.


Wow.. this is news to me. I never even knew there was a Korean coup in 1961. Things like this makes me wonder sometimes if the two Koreas will ever be reunited again as one :(

What role did the United States play in this coup? :confused:

Wow.. this is news to me. I never even knew there was a Korean coup in 1961. Things like this makes me wonder sometimes if the two Koreas will ever be reunited again as one :(

What role did the United States play in this coup? :confused:

The main role of the United States was to stay out of it. It was a matter of a South Korean coup against a South Korean government that was at best ineffective in controlling the country.

Later there were a couple of assassination attempts against Park Chung Hee, at least one of which was by North Korea. Eventually he was assassinated by a trusted associate. There were hints at the time that the CIA was involved, but that has never been proved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chung_Hee