Spoils in the Far East



Russia and the Korean War



A.) The Soviet Occupation of North Korea


When Soviet troops occupied North Korea, the Japanese already had turned over government to the Koreans, who formed a provisorical government headed by nationalist CHO MAN-SIK. Soon, Korean communist and Red Army officer KIM IL-SUNG was given a position within the government, and after a few months the communists monopolized the government and established a socialist ONE PARTY STATE. The Soviets turned over the weapons captured from the Japanese to the North Koreans, whose army they trained, and on January 1st 1948 announced their withdrawal from Korea. As the Soviet military administration had ceased to exist, North Korea had been granted independence.
The US administration was caught by surprise and had to move, ending the US military administration of South Korea on August 15th 1948.


B.) The Korean War


While South Korea was dealing with many interior problems, North Korea prepared for the invasion which was to unify the country under a Stalinist regime. North Korean head of state, planniung the invasion of South Korea, tried to gain Stalin's support as early as March 1949. Stalin was reluctant, and only after Kim Il Sung had played the Chinese card, agreed in April 1950. The invasion began on June 25th 1950 on a massive scale (as opposed to the usual skirmishes); the South Korean defense broke and Seoul fell ibto the hands of the invaders. The United Nations security council met. The council moved to support South Korea against the invaders; the ABSENCE OF THE SOVIET DELEGATE made it possible that the motion could pass without a Soviet veto.
The Soviet Union officially was not involved in the ensuing Korean War. However, North Korea's airforce (Russian MIGs, of course) were flown by SOVIET PILOTS IN NORTH KOREAN UNIFORMS. They had order not to cross the 38th parallel, for captured pilots would lift that secret. Early in the war the North Korean, Soviet-piloted MIGs were superior to US warplanes.


EXTERNAL
FILES 		Stalin, Kim Il Sung and the 38th Parallel, summary of a book with the same title by A. Torkunov and Y. Ufimtsev
Stalin, Mao and Korean War Origins, 1950 : A Russian Documentary Discrepancy, by Dieter Heinzig, from the Cold War International History Project, Bulletins
Letters : Stalin, Kim and Korean War Origins, from the Cold War International History Project, Bulletins
DOCUMENTS Japan defeated, from Eyewitness : A North Korean Remembers
REFERENCE


This page is part of World History at KMLA
Last revised on April 29th 2001




e-mail