g "a long-standing alienation between state and society" (Choi, 1993, p. 14). Under American pressure, the Rhee regime undertook land reforms (1948-1950) and in the 1950s allowed some opposition political activity. E. M. Kim (1996) described it as "not a comprehensive, but a limited authoritarian state" (p. 41). Choi says that the Korean War (1950-1953) was "a decisive turning point" [which] gave the state an ideological basis [anti-communism] for building its legitimacy" and greatly strengthened the power of the military (1993, p. 21).
Economically, the Korean War was a catastrophe. In the process of rebuilding the economy, the Rhee regime remained heavily dependent on $13 billion of American military and economic aid, which between 1953 and 1962 equalled 70 percent of the state's revenues and 80 percent of all domestic capital formation in South Korea (Kim, E. M., 1996, p. 45; Evans, 1987, p. 210). Haggard & Moon say that the Korean War produced "a new commercial class," and land reforms weakened the power of the landlords, thus removi
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