I know that communism tends to spring up in agricultural regions of the world rather than industrial. Since the northern section of Korea is well suited for industry with its mineral wealth, the breadbasket that is the south having no ties to communism must be a historical irony. Is there anyone that can shed some light on this?
Communism was popular in South Korea, to the point where the government went through a lot of effort to stop its spread in popularity. Korea's Grevious War by Su-kyoung Hwang goes into a good amount of detail on policies enacted by the South Korean government, especially in Chapters 2 and 3.