Korea
is a peninsula east of China. It became part of the Chinese Empire
in 1637 and did not receive its independence until 1895 (Treaty of
Shimonoseli).
In
the early 20th century Russia and Japan both tried to gain control
of Korea. This resulted in the Russo-Japanese
War (1904-05). On 8th February, 1904, the Japanese Navy launched
a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.
The
Russian Navy fought two major battles
to try and relieve Port Arthur. At both Liao-Yang and Sha Ho, the
Russians were defeated and were forced to withdraw. On 2nd January,
1905, the Japanese finally captured Port Arthur. The Russian
Army also suffered 90,000 causalities in its failed attempt to
Mukden (February, 1905).
In
May, 1905, the Russian Navy was attacked
at Tsushima. Twenty Russian ships were sunk and another five were
captured. Only four Russian ships managed to reach safety at Vladivostok.
These
defeats led to criticism of the Russian government. Bloody
Sunday and the Potemkin Mutiny were
both partly caused by the unpopularity of the war. The increase in
revolutionary activity in Russia convinced Nicholas II that he needed
to bring an end to the conflict and accepted the offer of President
Theodore Roosevelt to mediate between the two countries.
Sergi
Witte led the Russian delegation at the peace conference held
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in August, 1905. Under the terms of
the Treaty of Portsmouth: (i) The Liaotung Peninsula and the South
Manchurian Railway went to Japan; (ii) Russia recognized Korea as
a Japanese sphere of influence; (iii) The island of Sakhalin was divided
into two; (iv) The Northern Manchuria and the Chinese Eastern Railway
remained under Russian control.
In
November 1905 Japan took control of Korea and began settling Japanese
families in the country. By
1932 Kim
Il-Sung
had become leader of a guerrilla
group based in Korea. Over the next ten years he launched a series
of attacks against the Japanese. During the Second
World War the Japanese
Army arrived in Korea in large numbers and Kim was forced
to go and live in the Soviet Union.
The Yalta
Conference in 1945 agreed that Soviet and American troops would
occupy Korea after the war. The
country was divided at the 38th parallel and in 1948 the Soviet
Union
set up a
People's Democratic Republic in North Korea. At the same time the
United States helped establish the Republic of South Korea.
After the war Syngman
Rhee emerged
as the main right-wing politician in South Korea and in 1947 he received
the unofficial support of the United States government. In 1948 Rhee
became the first president of South Korea. He soon developed a reputation
for authoritarian rule and his political opponents were quickly silenced.
In
June 1949 the United States Army began to
withdraw from South Korea. Statements made by General Douglas
MacArthur and Dean Acheson suggested
that the United States did not see the area as being of prime importance.
Acheson argued that if South Korea was attacked: "The initial
reliance must be on the people attacked to resist it and then upon
the commitments of the entire civilized world under the Charter of
the United Nations."
Kim
Il-Sung,
the communist dictator of North Korea, became convinced that the people
in the south would welcome being ruled by his government. At dawn
on 25th June 1950, the North Koreans launched a surprise attack on
South Korea. Three days later, communist forces captured the South
Korean capital, Seoul.
The Security Council of the United Nations
recommended that troops should be sent to defend South Korea. As the
Soviet Union was boycotting the Security Council at the time, it was
unable to veto this decision. Fifteen nations sent troops to Korea,
where they were organized under the command of Douglas
MacArthur.
The surprise character of the attack enabled the North Koreans to
occupy all the South, except for the area around the port of Pusan.
On 15th September, 1950, Douglas MacArthur
landed American and South Korean marines at Inchon, 200 miles behind
the North Korean lines. The following day he launched a counter-attack
on the North Koreans. When they retreated, MacArthur's forces carried
the war northwards, reaching the Yalu River, the frontier between
Korea and China on 24th October, 1950.
Harry S. Truman and Dean
Acheson, the Secretary of State, told MacArthur to limit the war
to Korea. MacArthur disagreed, favoring an attack on Chinese forces.
Unwilling to accept the views of Truman and Acheson, MacArthur began
to make inflammatory statements indicating his disagreements with
the United States government.
MacArthur gained support from right-wing members of the Senate such
as Joe McCarthy who led the attack on
Truman's administration: "With half a million Communists in Korea
killing American men, Acheson says, 'Now let's be calm, let's do nothing'.
It is like advising a man whose family is being killed not to take
hasty action for fear he might alienate the affection of the murders."
In April 1951, Harry S. Truman removed
MacArthur from his command of the United Nations
forces in Korea. McCarthy now called for Truman to be impeached and
suggested that the president was drunk when he made the decision to
fire MacArthur: "Truman is surrounded by the Jessups, the Achesons,
the old Hiss crowd. Most of the tragic things are done at 1.30 and
2 o'clock in the morning when they've had time to get the President
cheerful."
While this conflict was taking place in the United States, the Chinese
government sent 180,000 men to North Korea. This back-up enabled North
Korean forces to take Seoul for a second time in January 1951. U.N.
troops eventually managed to halt the invasion sixty miles south of
the 38th parallel. A counter-offensive at the end of January gradually
recovered lost ground.
Once in control of South Korea, representatives of the United
Nations began peace talks with the North Korean government on
8th July 1951. An armistice agreement, maintaining the divided Korea,
was signed at Panmunjom on 27th July 1953. Over 25,600 American troops
were killed during the war and other U.N. contingents lost 17,000
men. It is estimated that including civilians, the Korean War cost
the lives of around 4 million people.
After the
war Kim
Il-Sung
established an authoritarian
dictatorship. To reinforce his rule he succeeded in constructing
a cult of personality with himself as the main icon for adoration.
North Korea was also a major arms supplier to Libya, Iran and Syria.
Syngman
Rhee
remained in power in South Korea. Over the years his regime was
seen as authoritarian, corrupt and inefficient. He was re-elected
in 1956 and 1960 by large majorities. However, few believed the
elections had been fair and gave rise to widespread anti-government
demonstrations. A student uprising toppled Rhee's government in
April 1960.
The
following year a military coup brought to power Major-General Pak
Cheng-hi, who became president on 22nd March 1962. He subsequently
won elections in 1963, 1967, 1971 and 1972. In July 1972 representatives
from the governments of both South and North Korea pledged themselves
to seek unification of the peninsula by peaceful means.
The United
States became increasingly concerned about the possibility that
North Korea was trying to develop an atom
bomb. In June 1994 President Jimmy
Carter persuaded
Kim IL Sung to freeze his nuclear development programme in exchange
for an ease in international sanctions.
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