Influence of the Soviet Union
Stalin's DistrustStalin was convinced that America was against him, and so although he had a truce with the States, he agreed to help out Kim Il Sung.
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“In one of the conversations I translated personally between Stalin and a French visitor–Stalin said he had hoped and waited for the second front to be opened quickly. But it was only opened when the Allies felt endangered by us moving deep into Europe. Stalin said to the Allies quite openly that they didn’t want to help us. But when we crossed our border and moved into Europe then we felt that the Allies started to be concerned.” |
Turmoil
“In Seoul, only the dropping of an atomic bomb could have created more excitement. Japan, in 1905, had taken over the land under what was called a ‘trusteeship.’ Here was the awful word again; Korea had been betrayed!”
- Richard E. Lauterbach
"At first the Communists too joined in the anti-trusteeship movement but then suddenly shifted position to support trusteeship, and this created a serious obstacle to a campaign of national unity based on cooperation between leftist and rightist forces." The Soviet Union needed the trusteeship in Korea in order to extend the influence of communism.
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"In the north, the occupation command organized massive demonstrations in support of the decision ... The Soviet authorities responded by immediately ordering the Korean Communist Party in the south to demonstrate in favor of the Moscow decision. Although the KCP had consistently opposed the idea of trusteeship, on 2 January 1946 ... the KCP’s Central Committee adopted a statement of support. Reflecting what must have been instructions from Soviet party officials ..." |
“On New Year’s eve in 1945, an anti-trusteeship rally was held in Dongdaemun Stadium in Seoul. Almost all shops in the downtown Seoul were closed and a huge crowd gathered there. The anti-trusteeship movement was not manipulated by anybody, left or right. It was totally spontaneous,”
- Kang Won-Yong
The result was the permanent division of the nation and establishment of two different governments.
Kim Il Sung's Ascent
Before Kim Il Sung, Cho Man-sik was the leader of North Korea, a nonviolent member of the Korean Nationalists. After showing his disagreement with the USSR's political request, he was later assassinated.
"Cho Man-sik dedicated himself to the himself to the non-violent resistance to the occupation, a stance which earned him the epithet of "Gandhi of Korea." |
"In 1945 he was installed by the Soviets to lead the North when Korea was partitioned by the UN (really the U.S.). Kim was selected in large part because he [had not] grown up in Korea, and the Soviets felt he could be controlled better than one of the well known Korean leaders."
- Chris DeRusha, Department of Homeland Security
"Backed by the Soviet Union, Kim Il-sung rose to power and entrenched himself as head of the newly established North Korean Provisional People’s Committee. On 1946, the organization was re-established as the North Korean Workers’ Party, which enacted fundamentally communist policies such as the redistribution of agricultural lands. On September 9, 1948, the DPRK was proclaimed." |
"The next year, 237 members of the North Korean People’s Assembly were appointed at a general meeting of regional committees. Its first meeting (Feb. 21~22) resulted in the creation of the Provisional North Korean People’s Committee of 22 members, with Kim Il-sung as Chairman. When the U.N. General Assembly decided that free elections should be held throughout Korea and organized the U.N. Provisional Commission, North Korea accelerated efforts to establish a ‘People’s Republic’. |
"The first meeting of the SPA of 572 members was held in Pyongyang (Sep. 2~10), during which the constitution was officially validated and the government of the ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ was proclaimed, with Kim Il-sung as Chairman. (Sep. 9)" |