Korea — Partition and War

Abstract

During the war against Japan, the future of the Japanese possession of Korea was rarely discussed. Stalin wanted a friendly government on this frontier as elsewhere. But he was willing to conciliate Roosevelt’s desire for a joint occupation of the peninsula. Roosevelt did not want the Red Army too close to Japan. Therefore they divided the peninsula into zones of occupation along the 38th parallel. Roosevelt — a committed anti-colonialist — saw Korea as simply a colony, which must have its independence. But he felt it would need to be supervised for many years until it was ready for independence. He also assumed that a joint Soviet-American trusteeship would undertake that supervision. He was wrong on both counts.