The Soviet Policy Toward Korean Peninsula, 1945-1948

The Soviet Union policy toward Korean Peninsula,from 1945 to 1948,was an important component to the shaping and formation of the post-war international political structure in the Far East.In the Far eastern corner of Korean peninsula,three nations including four sides(the Soviet Union,the United States,along with northern and southern Korea)were drawn into rivalry.Under the climate of the cold war,the three nations and four sides in the peninsula evolved to the confrontation of two coalitions, which caused the division of Korea.The establishment of the pro-Soviet government in Korea was the core of Soviet policy in the peninsula.Centering this policy and considering the global strategy,the Soviet policy underwent a process of gradual development,as could be divided into three phases.Phase 1,brewing——from the terminal stage of the world warⅡto The Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers in December,1945.With Roosevelt proposing "mandating Korea",the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs contrived several programs of its Korea strategy,for example,seizing important stategic ports like Busan and the co-administration in these sites with communist China,so as to balance the US strategical predominance in the Pacific.Afterwards,however,due to the US control of the peninsula south of the thirty-eighth parallel de facto,the Soviet eventually came to the practicable and feasible scheme of "mandating Korea".Phase 2,changing through time——from January,1946 to October,1947.As the resolution of "mandating Korea" provoked the explosive anti-mandation wave of Korean nationalism,and the United States drew the spear of nationalism toward the Soviet.The Soviet government suffered great pressures from USA and the right-winged Koreans when executing the Moscow resolution.They began to realize that the aims of mandating Korea through US-Soviet cooperation could not be achieved.Therefore,after the failure of the two US-Soviet Joint Committee,the Soviet turned to a more feasible scheme,ie to set up a pro-Soviet government in north Korea alone.Phase 3,supporting the foundation of DPRK——from October,1947 to October,1948 As the Soviet was determined to establish a pro-Soviet government in north Korea alone,they gave counsels in the fields like politics,economics,culture and military,etc which helped forged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) governed by KimⅡ-sung.Altogether,during this peiod,there was a transition of the Soviet policy toward Korea from "Soviet-US cooperation of mandation to the division and rule of the south and north Korea".And the major reason for this transiton lay in "the post-war climate of the international politics,the feuds of US-Soviet policy and aims toward Korea,and the division of the party camps in the peninsula." These series of international and intrapeninsula factors together upgraded the Soviet-US feuds,which caused the eventual division between these two powers.In the end,to achieve its strategic aim of establishing buffer zones,the Soviet Union helped eastablished the DPRK in north Korea alone.