A Dark Hull Looms and Winds Well Up: The February 7 Commotion and the Embers of the April Third Massacre

Amidst the fiasco and conflict about holding separate elections in South Korea which split the Right into two distinct camps—the Hankuk Minchutang (Korean Democratic Party, KDP) led by Syngman Rhee and Kim Koo’s followers—the South Korean Left, under the leadership of new SKWP leader Hŏ Hŏn, issued a furious statement unconditionally rejecting the U.N.’s decision with bitingly crisp and simple language. The SKWP “indignantly refused to recognize an irresponsible decision to hold separate elections which effectively would mean a compulsory bifurcation of the Korean people.”