Division of Korea

The Korean peninsula, first divided along the 38th parallel, later along the demarcation line

The division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea stems from the 1945 Allied victory in World War II, ending Japan's 35-year occupation of Korea. The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to temporarily occupy the country as a trusteeship with the zone of control demarcated along the 38th Parallel. The Soviet Union and United States supervised the surrender of Japanese forces in their sectors as well as the establishment a Korean provisional government which would become "free and independent in due course."[1] The Soviet Union refused to participate in the United Nations mandated nationwide democratic election for a new government, leading to a declaration of the Republic of South Korea as the sole legitimate government in Korea.

The Korean War (1950-1953) left the two Koreas separated by the DMZ, remaining technically at war through the Cold War to the present day. North Korea's communist Stalinist and isolationist government has presided over a state-controlled economy dependent upon massive aid from Russia and China to survive. South Korea has developed into one of the world's leading economies, employing free enterprise economic policies as well as fostering a democratic government. Since the 1990s, with progressively liberal South Korean administrations, as well as the death of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, the two sides have taken small, symbolic steps towards a possible Korean reunification.

History of Korea

Jeulmun Period Mumun Period Gojoseon, Jin Proto-Three Kingdoms:  Buyeo, Okjeo, Dongye  Samhan   Ma, Byeon, Jin Three Kingdoms:  Goguryeo   Sui wars  Baekje  Silla, Gaya North-South States:  Unified Silla  Balhae  Later Three Kingdoms Goryeo  Khitan wars  Mongol invasions Joseon  Japanese invasions  Manchu invasions Korean Empire Japanese occupation  Provisional Gov't Division of Korea  Korean War  North Korea  South Korea List of monarchs

Historical Background

End of World War II (1939–1945)

Main article: World War II

In November 1943, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek met at the Cairo Conference to discuss what should happen to Japan's colonies, and agreed that Japan should lose all the territories it had conquered by force because it might become too powerful. In the declaration after that conference, a joint statement mentioned Korea for the first time. The three powers declared that they, "mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea are determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent” (Cairo Conference). For some Korean nationalists who wanted immediate independence, the phrase "in due course" caused dismay. Roosevelt may have proposed to Stalin that three or four years elapse before full Korean independence; Stalin demurred, saying that a shorter period of time would be desirable. In any case, discussion of Korea among the Allies waited until imminent victory over Japan.

With the war's end in sight in August 1945, the Allied leaders still lacked consensus on Korea's fate. Many Koreans on the peninsula had made their own plans for the future of Korea, and few of those plans included the re-occupation of Korea by foreign forces. Following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, Soviet leaders invaded Manchuria, as per Josef Stalin's agreement with Harry Truman during the Potsdam conference. The American leaders worried that the whole peninsula might be occupied by the Soviet Union, and feared this might lead to a Soviet occupation of Japan. Later events showed those fears well founded.

The Soviet forces moved rapidly southward on the Korean peninsula directly toward the United States forces moving northward. On August 10, 1945 two young officers, Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel, working on extremely short notice and completely unprepared for the task, seeking to avoid the beginning of World War II between the United States and Soviet Union, hurriedly proposed the 38th parallel as the halting line for the two armies. They used a National Geographic map to decide on the 38th parallel, dividing the country approximately in half while leaving the capital Seoul under American control. They lacked the time to consult experts on Korea. The two men had been unaware that forty years previous, Japan and Russia had discussed sharing Korea along the same parallel. Rusk later said that had he known, he would have chosen a different line. Regardless, the officers forwarded the decision in hastily written into General Order Number One for the administration of postwar Japan. Fortunately, the Soviets agree to the halting line. Some Generals in the Soviet and United States forces preferred to fight what they saw as an inevitable war without delay.

As a colony of Japan, the Korean people had been systematically excluded from important posts in the administration of Korea. General Abe Nobuyuki, the last Japanese Governor-General of Korea, conferred with a number of influential Koreans since the beginning of August 1945 to prepare the hand-over of power. On August 15, 1945, Yo Un Hyong, a moderate left-wing politician, agreed to take over. He took charge of preparing the creation of a new country and worked hard to build governmental structures. On September 6, 1945, a congress of representatives convened in Seoul. The foundation of a modern Korean state took place just three weeks after Japan's capitulation. The government, predominantly left wing, comprised of resistance fighters who agreed with many of communism's views on imperialism and colonialism.

After World War II

In the South

Armistice site, Korean Demilitarized Zone, DPRK side

On September 7, 1945, General MacArthur appointed Lieutenant General John R. Hodge to administer Korean affairs, Hodge landing in Incheon with his troops the next day. The "Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea" sent a delegation with three interpreters, but he refused to meet with them.

The American military authorities focused on dealing with Japan's surrender and the repatriation of Japanese to Japan. Little changed in the administration of the country; officials then serving under the Japanese authorities remained in their positions. The United States dismissed the Japanese governor general in until the middle of September, many Japanese officials stayed in office until 1946. Those decisions angered many Koreans since those same Japanese exploited Koreans.

The United States occupation authorities in South Korea faced numerous communist attempts to ferment revolution during 1945 to 1948 period. The Soviet Union not only put in place a communist dictatorship in the north, it sought to take over control of the south through overthrowing the unstable government in the south. The United States supported Princeton-educated Syngman Rhee, who moved back to Korea after decades of exile in the United States, to provisionally lead the country. Rhee had proven himself a patriot dedicated to democracy and free enterprise. Rhee staunchly countered armed rebellions in the south seeking to overthrow the provisional government and install a Soviet-backed communist dictatorship. To complicate matters, a number of political candidates proclaimed communist allegiance and sympathies, opening attempting to rally support of a communist dictatorship in the south. Clearly, the goal of communists in Korea, north and south, lay in establishing a communist dictatorship on the Korean peninsula. From 1945 to 1950, between 30,000 and 100,000 people would lose their lives in those battles.

In August 1948, the United States supervised a democratic election south of the 38th parallel in compliance with the United Nations mandate for a free and open election in Korea. The Soviet Union refused to allow the northern sector to participate, leading the United Nations to declare Syngman Rhee the legitimate president of Korea and the Republic of Korea the sole legitimate government on the Korean Peninsula. At that point, the United States withdrew its forces to Japan, leaving South Korea with a police force at best to defend itself. Unfortunately, the United States made public statements that led the North and the Soviet Union to believe the United States took a disinterested stance toward Korea, that the United States would not come to the aid of South Korea if attacked.

In the North

Main Articles: Workers Party of North Korea North Korea History of North Korea

"Bridge of no return" in Panmunjeom (border between South Korea and North Korea)

In August 1945 the Soviet Army established the Soviet Civil Authority to rule the country while establishing a domestic regime controlled by the USSR. Russia established provisional committees across the country putting Communists into key positions. In March 1946 Russia instituted land reform, dividing land from Japanese and collaborator land owners and distributing it to farmers. Kim Il-sung initiated a sweeping land reform program in 1946. Organizing the many civilians and farm hands under the people's committees, Kim used the power of government to seize control of land owned by Koreans. He allowed landlords a common share of land with farmers. Of course, farmers who had been disenfranchised during the Japanese colonial rule enjoyed the gift. Many of those who owned land though, seeing the hand writing on the wall, fled to the south. In a single stroke, the northern section of Korea lost many talented and educated leaders while the south gained them. Of course, in the history of communist domination, the educated and propertied people have suffered persecution and extermination first. North Korea followed the pattern. According to the U.S. military government, 400,000 northern Koreans went south as refugees.

Kim next seized control of key industries, placing them under control of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the North Korean Communist Central Committee. The Japanese had concentrated heavy industry in the north, cultivating agriculture in the south. Seizing control of factories, and placing the farm land in the hands of peasants, Kim further destabilized a weak economy. He had the benefit of massive aid from Russia, especially military weapons. From the beginning of Russia's occupation of North Korea, Kim concentrated on building North Korea's military power.

In February 1946 Kim Il-sung, who had spent the last years of the war training with Soviet troops in Manchuria, formed a provisional government called the North Korean Provisional People's Committee under his control. He moved systematically, in classic tyrant fashion, to remove rivals and consolidate power. At the local levels, people's committees eradicated Koreans of wealth and position, confiscating much of their land and possessions. As a consequence many of north Korean's leaders disappeared, never seen again and assumed assassinated.

Establishment of two Koreas

A South Korean sentry near the demilitarized zone (Imjingang)

With tensions growing rapidly between the formerly allied United States and Soviet Union, a stalemate existed in discussions on how to reconcile the provisional governments. The United States brought the problem before the United Nations in the fall of 1947. The USSR opposed UN involvement. The UN passed a resolution on November 14, 1947, declaring that free elections be held, after which US and Soviet troops must be withdrawn, and a UN commission for Korea created. The Soviet Union, although a member with veto powers, boycotted the voting, refusing to consider the resolution binding.

In April 1948, a conference of organizations from the north and the south met in Pyongyang. That conference stalemated, the Soviets boycotting the UN-supervised elections in Korea, resulting in no UN supervision of elections in the north. On May 10 the south held elections. Syngman Rhee, won the popular electing in the midst of a tumultuous political environment. Left-wing parties, following the Soviet Union's marching orders, boycotted the election, seeking to instigate wide-spread instability through compromising the election. In spite of North Korea's, and communist allies in the south's, best efforts, the Republic of Korea began life on August 13, when Syngman Rhee's elected government assumed power from the United States provisional government.

Korean War

Main Article: Korean War

In the North, Kim Il-sung declared the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on September 9, Kim the nominal prime minister. The installation of the DPRK took place without elections, facilitated by the Soviet Unions full support. Just as North Korea never lived up to the "Democratic" in the name DPRK, Kim never served as a prime minister in any definition of the word. North Korea operated as a revolutionary committee, never soliciting the approval of the people through votes or democratic elections. Kim gradually transformed himself into a classic tyrant, eventually maintaining absolute control of North Korea and requiring divine-like reverence of his person.

That division of Korea, after existing as a sovereign unified kingdom from 932 to 1910, struck both the North and the South governments as unacceptable. The difference in reunification intentions lay in strategy. North Korea's Kim Il-sung accepted the program of the International Communist movement for unification of the world through revolution and war. In the South, the democratic government of Syngman Rhee sought unification through dialogue and mutual benefit. The clash of ideologies, communist and democratic/free enterprise, in Korea made the 38th parallel the flash point for the newly declared Cold War.

From 1948 until the start of the civil war on June 25, 1950, North Korean forces repeatedly instigated bloody conflicts along the border. In 1950, Kim Il-sung sprung his full military force, with the backing of the Soviet Union, against the South. The Cold War's first major war had begun. The United Nations, led by the United States, quickly came to South Korea's defense. The Soviet Union, a member of the United Nations Security Council, remained hidden behind the scenes while Communist China came to the full support of North Korea. The war raged until August 15, 1953 with the signing of an armistice that put in place a truce which still stands today. South and North Korea agreed to create a three-mile wide buffer zone between the states, where nobody would enter, Demilitarized Zone or DMZ.

After the Korean War (1953–present)

Korean War Memorial Washington D.C.

North and South Korea have never signed a formal peace treaty; only declaring a ceasefire. From 1948 to 1992, authoritarian governments, usually ruled by a military president, had reined in South Korea. The South Koreans tolerated authoritarian rule in the face of a Kim Il-sung determined to reunify the Korean peninsula by military force. The North failed in several assassination attempts on South Korean leaders, most notably in 1968, 1974 and 1983; the South Korean military frequently found tunnels under the DMZ and war nearly broke out over the axe murder incident at Panmunjeom in 1976. In 1973, North and South Korea conducted extremely secret, high-level contacts under the guise of the Red Cross, but those ended after the Panmunjeom incident with little progress having been made.

In the late 1990s, with the South having transitioned to civilian run democracy, the success of the Nordpolitik policy, and power in the North having been taken up by Kim Il-sung's son Kim Jong-il, the two nations began to engage publicly for the first time, with the South declaring its Sunshine Policy. Recently, in an effort to promote reconciliation, the two Koreas have adopted an unofficial Unification Flag, representing Korea at international sporting events. The South provides the North with significant aid and cooperative economic ventures, and the two governments have cooperated in organizing meetings of separated family members and limited tourism of North Korean sites. The two states still refuse recognize each other, and the Sunshine Policy remains controversial in South Korea and with South Korea's allies, most notably the United States and Japan. North Korea's program to manufacture nuclear weapons and delivery systems has attracted condemnation by the United Nations and North Korea's neighbors.

The apportionment of responsibility for the division is much debated, although the older generation of South Koreans generally blame the North's communist zeal for instigating the Korean War. Many in the younger generation in South Korea see the division as a byproduct of the Cold War, criticizing the United States' role in the establishment of separate states, presence of US troops in the South, and hostile policies against the North. Although those differences exist in South Korea, by far the prevailing posture of South Koreans has been peace through strength. In the North, Kim Jong-il has no interest in popular sentiment among the North Koreans. He rewards dissent with prison, concentration camps, or death by execution. Kim's greatest concern, as one of communism's last nations, is how to survive the inevitable reunification of Korea without falling to the same fate as Romania's Nicolae Ceauşescu.

See also

• History of North Korea
• History of South Korea
• Korean reunification
• Korean Workers Party for information on the formation of North Korea

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Cho, Soon Sung. 1980. The genesis of tragedy: division of Korea : analysis of American decision-making process. Seoul, Korea: Institute of Foreign Affairs & National Security. OCLC: 40047623
• Hess, Robert Preston. 1960. The background and origins of the thirty-eighth parallel division of Korea. Thesis (M.A.)—Clark University, 1960. OCLC: 37048617
• Kim, Hyung-Kook. 1995. The division of Korea and the alliance making process: internationalization of internal conflict and internalization of international struggle, 1945-1948. Lanham, Md: University Press of America. ISBN 9780819198679
• Lee, Won Sul. 1982. The United States and the division of Korea, 1945. Peace studies book series, no. 2. Seoul: Kyung Hee University Press. OCLC: 8949166
• Oberdorfer, Don. 1997. The two Koreas: a contemporary history. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 9780201409277

External links

• South Korean Ministry of Unification. Retrieved September 11, 2007.
• North Korean News Agency. Retrieved September 11, 2007.
• Korea Web Weekly. Retrieved September 11, 2007.
• NDFSK. Retrieved September 11, 2007.
• Koreascope. Retrieved September 11, 2007.
• Rulers.org. Retrieved September 11, 2007.

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