Editing North Korea–South Korea relations (section)

== Division of Korea ==
{{Main|Division of Korea}}
[[File:28.08.1946 Labour Party North Korea.jpg|thumb|right|[[Kim Il Sung]], amongst other Korean communists and Soviet representatives, at a conference in [[Pyongyang]] in 1946, seated under large portraits of Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]] and himself.]]
[[File:Syngman Rhee and Douglas MacArthur.jpg|thumb|right|[[Syngman Rhee]] together with US general [[Douglas MacArthur]] at the grand ceremony inaugurating the government of the [[First Republic of Korea|Republic of Korea]] (South Korea) in 1948.]]
The Korean peninsula was previously an [[Joseon|independent state]] until 1897 when it declared independence from the [[Qing dynasty]]'s tributary system. In 1905, the [[Korean Empire]] became a protectorate of Japan and later [[Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910|annexed]] into Japan in 1910 beginning its [[Korea under Japanese rule|35-year long colonial rule]]. On 9 August 1945, in the closing days of [[World War II]], the Soviet Union [[Soviet–Japanese War|declared war on Japan]] and advanced into Korea. Though the Soviet declaration of war had been agreed by the Allies at the [[Yalta Conference]], the US government became concerned at the prospect of all of Korea falling under Soviet control. The US government therefore requested Soviet forces halt their advance at the [[38th parallel north]], leaving the south of the peninsula, including the capital, [[Seoul]], to be occupied by the US. This was incorporated into [[General Order No. 1]] to Japanese forces after the [[Surrender of Japan]] on 15 August. On 24 August, the Red Army entered [[Pyongyang]] and established a military government over Korea north of the parallel. American forces landed in the south on 8 September and established the [[United States Army Military Government in Korea]].<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | url = https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo | url-access = limited | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 0-415-23749-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo/page/n60 50]}}</ref>

The Allies had originally envisaged a joint trusteeship which would steer Korea towards independence, but most Korean nationalists wanted independence immediately.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | url = https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo | url-access = limited | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 0-415-23749-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo/page/n69 59]}}</ref> Meanwhile, the wartime co-operation between the Soviet Union and the US deteriorated as the [[Cold War]] took hold. Both occupying powers began promoting into positions of authority Koreans aligned with their side of politics and marginalizing their opponents. Many of these emerging political leaders were returning exiles with little popular support.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | url = https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo | url-access = limited | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 0-415-23749-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo/page/n60 50]–51, 59}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History| last = Cumings| first = Bruce| author-link = Bruce Cumings| year = 2005| publisher = [[W. W. Norton & Company]]| location = New York| isbn = 0-393-32702-7 |pages=194–95}}</ref> In North Korea, the Soviet Union supported Korean Communists. Kim Il Sung, who from 1941 had served in the Soviet Army, became the major political figure.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | url = https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo | url-access = limited | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 0-415-23749-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo/page/n66 56]}}</ref> Society was centralized and collectivized, following the Soviet model.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | url = https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo | url-access = limited | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 0-415-23749-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo/page/n78 68]}}</ref> Politics in the South was more tumultuous, but the strongly anti-Communist Syngman Rhee emerged as the most prominent politician.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | url = https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo | url-access = limited | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 0-415-23749-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo/page/n76 66], 69}}</ref>

The US government took the issue to the United Nations, which led to the formation of the [[United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea]] (UNTCOK) in 1947. The Soviet Union opposed this move and refused to allow UNTCOK to operate in the North. UNTCOK organized a [[1948 South Korean Constitutional Assembly election|general election]] in the South, which was held on 10 May 1948.<ref>{{cite book | title = Korea| last = Bluth | first = Christoph | year = 2008| publisher = Polity Press| location = Cambridge| isbn = 978-07456-3357-2 |page=13}}</ref> The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was declared on 10 July, with [[Kim Il Sung]] as prime minister appointed on 9 September and the Soviet occupational forces left the North on 10 December 1948. In the south, the Republic of Korea was established with [[Syngman Rhee]] as president, and formally replaced the US military occupation on 15 August and its troops withdrew from the South the following year, though the US [[Korean Military Advisory Group]] remained to train the [[Republic of Korea Army]].<ref>{{cite book| title = Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History| last = Cumings| first = Bruce| author-link = Bruce Cumings| year = 2005| publisher = [[W. W. Norton & Company]]| location = New York| isbn = 0-393-32702-7 |pages=255–56}}</ref>

Both opposing governments considered themselves to be the government of the whole of Korea, and both saw the division as temporary.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | url = https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo | url-access = limited | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 0-415-23749-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo/page/n82 72]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title = Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History| last = Cumings| first = Bruce| author-link = Bruce Cumings| year = 2005| publisher = [[W. W. Norton & Company]]| location = New York| isbn = 0-393-32702-7 |pages=505–06}}</ref> The DPRK proclaimed Seoul to be its official capital, a position not changed until 1972.<ref>{{cite book |author= Hyung Gu Lynn |date= 2007 |title= Bipolar Orders: The Two Koreas since 1989 |url= https://archive.org/details/bipolarorderstwo00lynn |url-access= limited |publisher= Zed Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/bipolarorderstwo00lynn/page/n172 158]}}</ref>