1947년 건국구상을 둘러싼 중앙과 지방의 갈등 －한국인들이 미국 대통령 특사 웨드마이어에게 보낸 서신을 중심으로－

Abstract

The U.S.-Soviet joint commission between 1946 and 1947 failed to resolve the Korean issue. With the collapse of the U.S.-Soviet Joint Commission and no signs of easy resolution of the Korean issue, Washington authorities decided to dispatch a presidential envoy to investigate political, economic, and military issues in the region. Selected as the presidential envoy was Lieutenant General Albert C. Wedemeyer, who served as the commander of the U.S. military in China. On July 9, 1947, U.S. President Truman sent an official letter to instruct the Chinese government to seek China's recovery from the mainland and to evaluate the situation of Korea's economic aid plan and the political and economic situation in general. Wedemeyer started for China on July 16, 1947, with eight mission members. After a month-long visit to China, Wedemeyer entered Gimpo Airfield via Japan on August 26. During his stay in Korea, the Wedemeyer mission received various reports from the U.S. military government authorities, interviewed key Korean figures, and received letters from an unspecified number of Koreans. Through this, the mission can analyze the situation perception, direction of response, and perspective of the South Korean people of the U.S. military government and South Korean political forces. The government-establishing initiatives and political issues of each political party in South Korea, and the perception of the reality of the South Korean people can be viewed from a dual perspective of the central and local regions. In particular, the letters received from all walks of life during their stay were important data to confirm the perception of the South Korean people of the era at the time.