Haebang chŏnhu Adŏ Pŏnsŭ ŭi hwaltong kwa Miguk ŭi tae Han chŏngch’aek” [Arthur C. Bunce’s activities and the US policy toward Korea around the time of Korean liberation from Japan]

Arthur C. Bunce’s Activities and the US Policy Toward Korea Around Korean Liberation from Japan Jong Chol An This article deals with Arthur C. Bunce who, though now almost forgotten, was in charge of Korean economy during the American Military Government and the early period of the Republic of Korea. Bunce obtained very sympathetic understanding of Korean rural situation and of Korean peasant’s poverty while working in Hamheung, Northeast Korea as a Canadian YMCA member for six years since 1928. Having returned to the US, he studied agricultural economy at the University of Wisconsin and obtained Ph. D. degree. He began to work at the Federal Reserve Board after being naturalized into US citizen. He published two articles in the Journal published by the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) at the end of the World War II in that he argued that Korea needs land reform and industralization. The argument was very prescient for the future of Korea. After Korea was liberated from Japan, in February 1946, he became chief economic advisor to John R. Hodge, commander in the US Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) while leading State Department officials in South Korea. His role was to mediate between the USAMGIK and the State Department. Bunce was chief advisor to American part in US-USSR Joint Commission as well. With this position, he tried to persuade the State Department to support the Left-Right coalition movement, American economic aid, and Korean economic development, etc. He firmly believed that his ideas would effectively frustrate communist’s schemes in North and South Korea. Unfortunately, he was checked by Hodge and later Syngman Rhee, the limit that he was not able to fully overcome. Overall, however, with his persuasion of State Department officials, Bunce arouse the importance of Korea in the coming Cold War confrontation and succeeded in securing economic aid from the US government. Moreover, he became chief in Korean Section of the Economic Cooperation Adminstration (ECA), the position that enabled the Republic of Korea to pacify economic inflation and to deal with full economic recovery just before the Korean War. Ill-fated, his role ended de facto when the Korean War broke out so that the economic rehabilitation was postponed until the end of 1950s. The case of Bunce reveals one of human dimensions of the Korean-American relations from the end of colonial period and the beginning of the Republic of Korea.