Chapter 10: Korea divided

North Korea

Historical details of events after the invasion by Soviet troops on August 8 and 9, 1945 are incomplete outside of North Korea. The Soviets took their position of power before their American counterparts because they arrived a month earlier and there were a great number of Soviet troops that were of Korean descent. These people had fled from Japanese colonization and became citizens in the Soviet Union. There were a few thousand of them operating in the North, many of them officials and political operatives with experience. The Soviet Union chose to operate in the background since they had a large number of followers there was by far less resistance than the United States had in the south.

In August 1945, the Soviet Red Army established the Soviet Civil Authority to rule the country until a domestic regime that was friendly to the USSR could be established. They set up provisional committees across the country, putting communists into key positions. In March 1946, land reform was instituted as the land from Japanese landowners was divided and handed over to poor farmers; most prior landowners fled to the south. Quickly key industries were nationalized. The economic situation was as difficult in the north as it was in the south. One reason was that Japan concentrated agriculture in the south and heavy industries in the north. As a result, there was a deficit in both halves of the country.

In February 1946, a provisional government called the North Korean Provisional People's Committee was formed under Kim Ill Sung (1912-1994). In November 1946, the provisional government was elected under the Soviet control. Conflicts and power struggles were mostly hidden in the north, in stark contrast to the south where this all happened in public. Many unfavorable people in the north either disappeared, or were assassinated. A Stalinist order was soon established, meaning that there were no open riots in the north.

As the hostilities increased, the Korean peninsula was drawn into a civil war.

After World War II ended and before the Korean War started, there was a break in hostilities and a time to rekindle some Korean traditions. Interest in resurrecting Taekkyon began to arise which led to the development of taekwondo.