I used to dislike Mao Zedong, but lately, I've grown to like him

Until recently, I always disliked Mao Zedong because he sent North Korean reinforcements, which prolonged the Korean War.
But seeing how threatening China has become now, I feel like our country would have been truly bleak if Mao's revolution hadn't happened.
During the Korean War, Mao only sent troops due to pressure from the Soviet Union, even though they were already at the Yalu River, but personally, it feels like Mao paid his karmic debt immediately when his son died lol
If Mao hadn't carried out the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping would have likely proceeded with Reform and Opening-up much sooner. Our country would have become an international manufacturing powerhouse—light industry in the 60s and heavy/chemical industry from the 70s—playing a part in being the "world's factory" and rising to developed nation status, but Deng Xiaoping would have kicked that ladder away much earlier.
Furthermore, if we hadn't developed independently, there was a high probability we would have remained a subcontractor for Japan and suffered under China's pressure.
Ultimately, looking at it now, if we had achieved unification during the Korean War, we might have had more resources than we do now, but by sharing a border with China, our military power would have been restricted to avoid provoking them. Due to numerous pro-China and pro-Japan factions, it would have been difficult to develop properly, and we would have remained a middle-income country—just extracting and selling resources and acting as a subcontractor for Japan, catching the flu every time China sneezes.
Anyway, long live the Cultural Revolution! Long live the Red Guards! Hahahahahahahahaha
Given Deng Xiaoping's personality, he wouldn't have done the Cultural Revolution, but if someone else had taken power and done it, that person would have also provided great help to Korea.