Communist Korea (Post-WII Korea)

In Early 1910 (the wake of the Russo-Japanese War):

• A lot of Koreans trusted the U.S. to restore independence, while the U.S. cared little and often made false promises to Korea.
• “For all Western powers, including the United States, Korea, therefore, was a pawn that could be easily sacrificed in their need to meet these more important foreign-policy priorities.” (James, 3)
• President Theodore Roosevelt ended the U.S.’s neutrality on the issue of Korea, brokering peace that would lead to Japan annexing Korea.
• Theodore Roosevelt and most Americans favored Japan annexing Korea. Despite this, many groups, like the missionaries working in Korea and Japan, felt sympathy for the Korean people.
• World War II and Pearl Harbour would change this, however. 
• FDR saw the U.S., China, Russia, and Britain would become the ‘police-men of the world’.
• FDR believed that “Korea might be placed under an international trusteeship, with China, the United States, and one or two other countries participating.” (It was heavily implied that one of the other countries would be the USSR.)
• Korean independence slowly shifted from an immediate guarantee upon Japan’s defeat into a transitional period where the trustee nations would watch over it. This matched FDR’s belief that non-Western peoples were incapable of self-tutelage or sovereignty.
• This plan for Korea to be overseen by several world powers was called the Cairo Declaration of Korea, and it was drafted mostly by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Chiang (the president of China at the time). Notably, Stalin was not included.
• Cairo gave Stalin and the USSR a large hand in the governing of Korea with the formation of the 38th Parallel, which would separate Western-controlled Korea from North Korea.
• Again, this all stemmed from FDR’s belief that non-Western nations needed to be taught self-governance. He pointed to the supposed success of the U.S.’s control of the Philippines as an example.
• Koreans, of course, just wanted independence, so this trustee system was something they opposed.
• Soviet-controlled Korea was designed to ease hostility to the USSR. Kim II-sung was set up as the communist leader, and, at first, worked cooperatively with the nationalists in North Korea, who still desired independence.
• This cooperation would deteriorate as the communist party clearly suppressed any attempts at independence.
• Many rumors regarding atrocities committed against nationalists have been reported.
• Eventually, the nationalist party would fall apart, and Kim II-sung’s group would go on to lead what would become modern North Korea.