Division (since 2 September 1945) Soviet occupation of northern Korea in
Pyongyang on 14 October 1945 The Soviets received little resistance from the Japanese during their advance across northern Korea and were aided by various Korean groups. When Soviet troops entered
Pyongyang on August 24, they found a local branch of the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence operating under the leadership of veteran nationalist
Cho Man-sik. The Soviet Army allowed these "People's Committees" (which were of varying political composition) to function. In September 1945, the Soviet administration issued its own currency, the "Red Army won". The original 1948
North Korean constitution was primarily written by Stalin and Shtykov. Organizing the many poor civilians and agricultural labourers under the people's committees, a nationwide mass campaign broke the control of the old landed classes. Landlords were allowed to keep only the same amount of land as poor civilians who had once rented their land, thereby making for a far more equal distribution of land. The North Korean land reform was achieved in a less violent way than
in China or
in Vietnam. Official American sources stated: "From all accounts, the former village leaders were eliminated as a political force without resort to bloodshed, but extreme care was taken to preclude their return to power." The farmers responded positively; many collaborators, former landowners and Christians fled to the south, where some of them obtained positions in the new South Korean government. According to the U.S. military government, 400,000 northern Koreans went south as refugees. Key industries were nationalized. The economic situation was nearly as difficult in the north as it was in the south, as the Japanese had concentrated agriculture and service industries in the south and heavy industry in the north. Soviet forces were withdrawn on 10 December 1948.
US occupation of southern Korea in
Seoul on 9 September 1945, the bulding in the background is the
Japanese General Government Building, Seoul With the American government fearing Soviet expansion, and the Japanese authorities in Korea warning of a power vacuum, the embarkation date of the US occupation force was brought forward three times. That same day, he announced that Lieutenant General
John R. Hodge was to administer Korean affairs. Hodge landed in
Incheon with his troops on 8 September 1945, marking the beginning of the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK). American soldiers committed rape and looting, on a smaller scale than the Soviets. The racism amongst Americans against Koreans was widespread. The
Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, which had operated from China, sent a delegation with three interpreters to Hodge, but he refused to meet with them. Likewise, Hodge refused to recognize the newly formed
People's Republic of Korea and its People's Committees, and outlawed it on 12 December. Japanese civilians were repatriated, including nearly all industrial managers and technicians; over 500,000 by December 1945 and 786,000 by August 1946. Severe price inflation occurred in the disrupted economy, until in summer 1946
rationing and
price controls were imposed. In September 1946,
thousands of laborers and peasants rose up against the military government. This uprising was quickly defeated, and failed to prevent scheduled
October elections for the South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly. The opening of the Assembly was delayed to December to investigate widespread allegations of electoral fraud. USAMGIK and later the newly formed South Korean government faced a number of left-wing insurgencies, some supported by North Korea, that were eventually suppressed. Over the course of the next few years, between 30,000 and 100,000 people were killed. Most casualties resulted from the
Jeju uprising.
US–Soviet Joint Commission In December 1945, at the
Moscow Conference, the Allies agreed that the Soviet Union, the US, the Republic of China, and Britain would take part in a
trusteeship over Korea for up to five years in the lead-up to independence. This invigorated the , which demanded the immediate independence of the peninsula. However, the
Korean Communist Party, which was closely aligned with the Soviet Communist party, supported the trusteeship. According to historian
Fyodor Tertitskiy, documentation from 1945 suggests the Soviet government initially had no plans for a permanent division. In 1946, the Soviet Union proposed
Lyuh Woon-hyung as the leader of a unified Korea, but this was rejected by the US. Meanwhile, the division between the two zones deepened. The difference in policy between the occupying powers led to a polarization of politics, and a transfer of population between North and South. In May 1946 it was made illegal to cross the 38th parallel without a permit. At the final meeting of the Joint Commission in September 1947, Soviet delegate
Terentii Shtykov proposed that both Soviet and US troops withdraw and give the Korean people the opportunity to form their own government. This was rejected by the US.
UN intervention and the formation of separate governments to President Syngman Rhee on 15 August 1948 With the failure of the Joint Commission to make progress, the US brought the problem before the
United Nations in September 1947. The Soviet Union opposed UN involvement. The UN passed a resolution on 14 November 1947, declaring that free elections should be held, foreign troops should be withdrawn, and a UN commission for Korea, the
United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK), should be created. The Soviet Union boycotted the voting and did not consider the resolution to be binding, arguing that the UN could not guarantee fair elections. In the absence of Soviet co-operation, it was decided to hold UN-supervised elections in the south only. This was in defiance of the report of the chairman of the commission,
K. P. S. Menon, who had argued against a separate election. Some UNTCOK delegates felt that the conditions in the south gave unfair advantage to right-wing candidates, but they were overruled. and 70% of the villages were burned by the South Korean troops. The uprising flared up again with the outbreak of the Korean War. In April 1948, a conference of organizations from the north and the south met in
Pyongyang. The southern politicians
Kim Koo and
Kim Kyu-sik attended the conference and boycotted the elections in the south, as did other politicians and parties. The conference called for a united government and the withdrawal of foreign troops. Syngman Rhee and General Hodge denounced the conference. On 10 May 1948 the south held a
general election. It took place amid widespread violence and intimidation, as well as a boycott by opponents of Syngman Rhee. In response, the
All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Politburo instructed Shtykov to implement the Constitution of North Korea, which the
People's Assembly voted to do so on 10 July, establishing the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (
Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk). The
legislative elections then took place on 25 August with Kim Il Sung appointed as prime minister on 9 September. In the South, on 15 August, the
Republic of Korea (
Daehan Minguk) formally declared its statehood and took over power from the U.S. military, with Syngman Rhee as the first president. USAMGIK was formally dissolved and the
Korean Military Advisory Group was formed to train and provide support for the South Korean army. U.S forces started to withdraw in a process that was completed by 1949. On 12 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly accepted the report of UNTCOK and declared the Republic of Korea to be the "only lawful government in Korea". However, none of the members of UNTCOK considered that the election had established a legitimate national parliament. The Australian government, which had a representative on the commission declared that it was "far from satisfied" with the election. In 1949, the Syngman Rhee government established the
Bodo League in order to keep an eye on its political opponents. The majority of the Bodo League's members were innocent farmers and civilians who were forced into membership. The registered members or their families were executed at the beginning of the Korean War. On 24 December 1949, South Korean Army
massacred Mungyeong citizens who were suspected communist sympathizers or their family and affixed blame to communists. ==Korean War==