Seeds of the North Korean Revolution
Road to Freedom"Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed. The aforesaid three great powers, mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea, are determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent." Koreans, after being suppressed by Japan for a long time, wanted their own national government. When the plan of trusteeship was introduced in Korea, virtually every Korean opposed it.
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Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers, 1945
A discussion about a trusteeship in Korea was raised in the Moscow Conference.
"...at Yalta Generalissimo Stalin and President Roosevelt had had only an understanding on this question. The understanding was that a trusteeship would be the wise procedure in the case of Korea."
- The United States Delegation Minutes, regarded to Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers
"In order to assist the formation of a provisional Korean government and with a view to the preliminary elaboration of the appropriate measures, there shall be established a joint commission consisting of representatives of the United States command in southern Korea and the Soviet command in northern Korea ... The proposals of the Joint Commission shall be submitted, following consultation with the provisional Korean Government for the joint consideration of the Governments of the United States, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom and China for the working out of an agreement concerning a four-power trusteeship of Korea for a period of up to five years."
- The United Kingdom Delegation Minutes, regarded to Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers
Misleading Information to Instigate"A day earlier on December 27, Dong-A Ilbo reported that the issue of Korea's independence would be discussed at the three ministers' meeting in Moscow, that the Soviet Union suggested trusteeship but the U.S. supported immediate independence, citing an overseas report from Washington.
"On the same day, the Chosun Ilbo and the Seoul Shinmun reported the same article. It later turned out that the position of the two countries were different from what was reported by the overseas press. However, it was unavoidable for the Korean press to pay attention to it, as the news about trusteeship was already delivered to Korea two months earlier, and because the anti-trusteeship movement was budding." - Hong Chan-sik |
Afterward"The U.S.-U.S.S.R. Joint Commission on Korea was established as a result of the Moscow Agreement of December 27, 1945 ... This agreement provided for the establishment of a Joint Commission on Korea to be made up of representatives of the United States and the Soviet Union to consider long-range political and economic problems ... Since virtually all Korean parties except for the Communist Party had opposed the "trusteeship" concept announced by the Moscow meeting, the United States held that most Korean parties should be allowed to participate in a unified government ... Negotiations within the framework of the Moscow Agreement were finally abandoned [on May 21, 1947]...
"On September 17, 1947, the United States brought the Korean problem before the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Soviets opposed United Nations involvement because the Koreans had not been asked to participate. On November 14, 1947, the General Assembly passed a US-endorsed resolution to create the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK). Australia, Canada, China, El Salvador, France, India, the Philippines, and Syria sent representatives to serve on UNTCOK, which observed elections held in South Korea, but was not permitted to do so in North Korea. The report of UNTCOK, approved by a General Assembly resolution on December 12, 1948, stated that a lawful government had been established in the South..." - National Archive |
A video clip that shows that many Koreans were informed of the Moscow Agreement, and opposed the trusteeship.
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Kim Il Sung's Rise to Power
"Kim was born Kim Song Juh, and took the name of a revered leader of the resistance against the Japanese occupation Kim Il Sung. Born in Korea, his parents fled the Japanese occupation when he was just 7 years old, and he was raised in Northeastern China. ... 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 hadn’t grown up in Korea, and the Soviets felt he could be controlled better than one of the well known Korean leaders. Kim was only 33 years old, poorly educated, spoke broken Korean and was relatively unknown inside Korea. This is how the Kim cult of personality got started. ... By 1949 Kim was running a full-fledged dictatorship with purges, arbitrary arrests, public executions, labor camps and a full-on personality cult."
- Chris DeRusha, Department of Homeland Security