The Birth of Korean Rightists: How the Northwest Youth Association Was Created

Overview

“They were scarier than the police.”

In the fall of 1946, what South Koreans feared most during the suppression of leftist uprisings was neither the police nor the US military. It was the rightist youth groups armed with guns and grenades. Called the Northwest Youth Association, Korean Democratic Youth League, and Korean National Youth, they hunted down, tortured, and killed leftists in Daegu and Jeolla provinces.

Who were they? Why did civilian organizations, rather than the state, lead the suppression of leftists? And what role did they play in South Korea’s state-building?

From 1946 to 1948, it was social forces, not weak state apparatus, that created South Korea’s anti-communist system. This article traces the birth and role of the rightist youth groups at the center of this process.

Historical Background

Why Were Rightist Youth Groups Necessary?

After liberation in August 1945, leftists in South Korea organized rapidly. People’s Committees were established in 131 counties, 570,000 joined labor unions, and 3 million joined peasant unions. Meanwhile, the USMG’s bureaucratic apparatus was too weak.

USMG personnel (October 1946):

Total: 3,721 (less than half American)
US troops in provinces: 70-400 per province
One company in North Gyeongsang covered 12 counties

Pro-Japanese police were rehired (82% of all police), but they lacked legitimacy and became targets of leftist attacks. Over 200 police were killed during the fall 1946 uprising alone.

The USMG realized: State apparatus alone cannot suppress the leftists. What was needed was rightist social forces to counter the leftists.

The Left’s Head Start in Organization

To understand the emergence of rightist youth groups, we must first understand how far ahead the leftists were.

In August 1945, immediately after liberation, Yeo Un-hyeong organized the Committee for Preparation of Korean Independence and proclaimed the Korean People’s Republic in September. People’s Committees were established nationwide, serving as de facto local governments.

In November 1945, the Korean Communist Party organized the National Council of Korean Labor Unions, and in December created the National Federation of Peasant Unions. Student, youth, and women’s organizations followed.

Until the first half of 1946, rightists were helpless. Kim Koo’s Korean Independence Party and Rhee’s National Council for Rapid Realization of Independence existed, but their mass mobilization capacity was incomparable to the leftists.

However, the Moscow Conference of December 1945 became a turning point.

Anti-Trusteeship Movement and Rightist Awakening

On December 27, 1945, the Moscow Conference announced a five-year trusteeship plan for Korea. Leftists followed the Soviet position and turned to support trusteeship, while rightists united in opposition.

In January 1946, anti-trusteeship protests swept the nation. Rightist youth and students took to the streets and attacked leftist offices. Through this process, rightists experienced mass mobilization for the first time.

Rhee, Kim Koo, and Kim Kyu-sik realized: To fight leftists, they must organize youth. Thus, rightist youth groups began emerging one by one.

Three Rightist Youth Groups

1. Korean Democratic Youth League (April 1946): Rhee’s Private Army

Official name: Korean Democratic Youth League

Founded: April 1946

Leaders: Syngman Rhee (Honorary President), Kim Koo, Kim Kyu-sik

The League originated from Seoul’s gangster organizations. It was formed by organizing thugs from Jongno, Euljiro, and Myeongdong who had been brawling with leftist workers.

Characteristics:

Seoul-centered
Close cooperation with police
Direct sponsorship from Rhee
Violent and pragmatic

Key activities:

September 1946: Railway strike suppression – received rifles and grenades from police, mobilized about 2,000
October 1946: Daegu riot suppression – dispatched thousands to North Gyeongsang, over 40 casualties

The League was the USMG and police’s unofficial armed organization. Without legal basis or official approval, the USMG tacitly approved and police provided weapons. They would use any means to suppress leftists.

2. Northwest Youth Association (August 1946): North Korean Refugees’ Revenge

Official name: Northwest Youth Association

Founded: August 1946

Leader: Moon Bong-je (Rhee’s associate, from Hwanghae Province)

The Northwest Youth Association was different from other youth groups. They were refugees from North Korea.

Refugee background:

Mostly young people in their 20s-30s
From Hwanghae and Pyeongan provinces
Fled Soviet troops and North Korean communist oppression
Left families and property in the North

They were armed with hatred for communism. They had lost land through land reform in the North, seen churches closed through religious persecution, and been beaten by Soviet troops. South Korean leftists were not just political enemies but objects of revenge.

Characteristics:

Extreme anti-communist ideology
Organization and combat capability
Nationwide organization (especially Yeongnam and Honam)
Most violent

Key activities:

August 1946: Attacks on leftist unions
October 1946: Vanguard in suppressing Daegu-North Gyeongsang uprising
April-May 1948: Jeju 4.3 incident suppression
October 1948: Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion suppression

The Northwest Youth Association was notorious for violence against civilians, not just leftists. They kidnapped, tortured, and killed anyone suspected of being leftist. No law, no procedure. For them, anti-communism was justice.

3. Korean National Youth (October 1946): USMG’s Elite Force

Official name: Korean National Youth

Founded: October 9, 1946

Leader: Lee Beom-seok (former Korean Independence Army deputy commander, first Prime Minister)

The Korean National Youth was directly created by the USMG.

USMG support:

Founding capital: 5 million won
Chief Advisor: Colonel Ernest Voss (US Army intelligence officer)
Goal: “Rightist Youth Army”

Lee Beom-seok was an independence activist who had been active in China in the 1920s-30s and served as deputy commander of the Korean Independence Army under the Korean Provisional Government. True to his military background, the Korean National Youth was armed with military-style organization and militaristic ideology.

Platform:

“Nation supreme, State supreme”
Nation over individual, State over nation
Anti-communism and nation-building

Unlike the League and the Northwest Youth, the Korean National Youth was a legal organization. It received USMG approval, funding, and participated in official events. When Lee became the first Prime Minister after the ROK government was established in 1948, the Korean National Youth became a core organization of the ruling coalition.

State-building Analysis

Social Forces Make the State

In state-building theory, the four key actors are political leadership, bureaucratic apparatus, social forces, and foreign powers. In South Korea from 1946-48, social forces played the most important role.

Why were social forces important?

Weakness of state apparatus: USMG personnel 3,721, 82% pro-Japanese police
Strength of leftists: 131 counties with People’s Committees, 570,000 union members, 3 million peasant union members
Lack of legitimacy: Neither the USMG nor pro-Japanese police had popular support

Ultimately, rightist social forces substituted for state apparatus. The League, Northwest Youth, and Korean National Youth suppressed leftist uprisings, dismantled People’s Committees, and created the anti-communist system.

This is the essence of state-building: When the state is weak, social forces make the state.

Outsourcing Violence

The USMG outsourced violence.

If US forces directly suppressed leftists, they could face international criticism. If police suppressed them, they lacked legitimacy. So the USMG delegated suppression to rightist youth groups.

They gave guns and grenades to the League
They tacitly approved the Northwest Youth’s violence
They gave 5 million won to the Korean National Youth

Rightist youth groups did the dirty work that the state couldn’t do. Torture, kidnapping, murder. Without legal procedure, without evidence, they eliminated anyone suspected of being leftist.

As a result, South Korea became an anti-communist state. But the process was violent, illegal, and inhumane.

Birth of a Monster

Rightist youth groups contributed to state-building but also became uncontrollable monsters.

Jeju 4.3 Incident (1948):

Northwest Youth dispatched to Jeju to suppress armed uprising
Committed civilian massacres
1 in 10 Jeju residents died (estimated 30,000)

Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion (1948):

Northwest Youth and Korean National Youth participated in suppression
Thousands of civilians killed during leftist suppression

1950s Rhee Dictatorship:

Rightist youth groups served as Rhee’s private army
Opposition suppression, election violence, elimination of political enemies

The USMG and Rhee used the rightist youth groups but couldn’t control them. They became paramilitary organizations that stood above the state, threatening rule of law and democracy.

Contemporary Implications

1. Importance of State Monopoly on Violence

Max Weber defined the state as “the monopoly of legitimate violence.” Only the state can use violence, and that violence must be controlled by law.

But 1946 South Korea was different. Social forces exercised violence, and that violence was not controlled by law. Rightist youth groups’ violence was more ruthless and arbitrary than state violence.

What legacy did this leave?

Weakening of rule of law
Justification of private violence
The mindset that “the end justifies the means”

The rule of law we take for granted today did not exist in 1946.

2. Origins of Anti-Communist Ideology

Where did the Northwest Youth’s extreme anti-communism come from? It was their experience in North Korea.

Sons of landlords who lost land through land reform, Christians who lost faith through church closures, young people beaten by Soviet troops. For them, communism was not theory but trauma.

This trauma became South Korea’s anti-communist ideology. The 1948 National Security Act, the Red Complex of the 1950s, anti-communist education of the 1960s-80s—all started here.

3. Shadows of the Past

The violence of rightist youth groups remains controversial today.

Jeju 4.3: Special Act 2000, additional investigation 2014
Yeosu-Suncheon: Still debated whether “rebellion” or “uprising”
Northwest Youth: 2020 controversy over recognizing victims of state violence

They contributed to state-building but massacred civilians. How should we remember this contradiction?

History is not black and white. Rightist youth groups are neither heroes nor villains. They are a mirror showing the violent nature of state-building.

Korean State-Building Series

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