歴史的経緯
I. Division of the Korean Peninsula
1. On July 26, 1945, the Potsdam Declaration was drawn up in occupied Germany by allied leaders, US President Harry Truman, China’s Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, urging Japan to surrender or face grave consequences.*
It also mentioned that Japanese sovereignty would be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku, and such minor islands as the Allies would determine, indicating that Korea, a Japanese colony since 1910, would be separated from Japan with a view to regaining independence.
*Although Soviet leader Joseph Stalin attended the conference, the Soviet Union did not join in the Potsdam Declaration at the outset, as it was not yet at war with Japan. It later acceded on August 8, 1945, when it declared war against Japan.
2. Following the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan informed of her surrender to the allied nations on August 14, 1945, in accepting the Potsdam Declaration.
The same day, US General Douglas MacArthur became Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP).
3. Following consultations with allied leaders, it was on August 18, 1945, that US President Harry Truman finalized General Order No.1 to be issued by SCAP.
These were instructions given to Japanese forces, designating the specific allied commander to which they should surrender, region by region. Publicized on September 2, 1945, the day of the Surrender Ceremony in Tokyo Bay, it mentioned Korea in “b” and “f.”
a. The senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces within China (excluding Manchuria), Formosa and French Indo-China north of 16 degrees north latitude shall surrender to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
b. The senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces within Manchuria, Korea north of 38 degrees north latitude and Karafuto, and the Kurile Islands, shall surrender to the Commander in Chief of Soviet Forces in the Far East.
c. The senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces within the Andamans, Nicobars, Burma, Thailand, French Indo-China south of 16 degrees north latitude, Malaya, Sumatra, Java, Lesser Sundas (including Bali, Lombok, and Timor), Boerce, Ceram, Ambon, Kai, Aroe, Tanimbar and islands in the Arafura Sea, Celebes, Halmahere and Dutch New Guinea shall surrender to the Supreme Allied Commander, Southeast Asia Command.
d. The senior Japanese Commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces within Borneo, British new Guinea, the Bismarcks and the Solomons shall surrender to the Supreme Allied Commander in Chief, Australian Military Forces.
e. The senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces in the Japanese Mandated Islands, Bonins, and other Pacific islands shall surrender to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
f. The Imperial General Headquarters, its senior Commanders, and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces in the main islands of Japan, Islands adjacent thereto, Korea south of 38 degrees north latitude, the Ryukyus and the Philippines shall surrender to the Commander-in- Chief, US Armed Forces in the Pacific.
4. Accordingly, the Korean Peninsula was occupied and divided along the 38 degrees north parallel by Soviet forces coming in from the north and US forces coming in from the south to disarm Japanese forces, and this started the division of the Korean nation at the 38th parallel.
After failure to integrate the 2 regions through national elections, North Korea and South Korea were respectively founded in 1948. Soviet forces withdrew from North Korea in 1948, and US forces withdrew from South Korea in 1949.
II. Korean War and Consequences
1. It was on June 25, 1950, that North Korea (DPRK) started the Korean War by military aggression into South Korea (ROK). The Soviet Union is known to have supported DPRK from behind the scenes. The city of Seoul was taken on June 28 the same year.
After the South Koreans were driven back toward the Sea of Japan, UN forces were dispatched to assist them in early July. These UN forces were under US leadership, and consisted mainly of US forces numbering 302,000, including those forces stationed in Japan, and reinforced by armed forces from 15 other countries.
In July, 1950, ROK President Syngman Rhee gave US General Douglas MacArthur, operational control over all ROK Forces, thus uniting allied forces under a single United Nations Command, with its headquarters in Tokyo.
UN forces made use of their military bases in Japan, then under US occupation, as staging ground for operations, supply and logistics.
After a series of setbacks that practically drove them out of the Peninsula, UN forces made a landing at Inchon on September 15, and were able to drive back the DPRK forces toward their border with China; this prompted Chinese forces (ostensibly, volunteers) to come directly to their aid, crossing the Yalu River from the north near the end of October, 1950, and the tide turned once again. UN forces were driven back toward the 38th parallel.
2. In July, 1951, peace talks were begun and on July 27, 1953, an armistice was signed. Ever since, the Cease Fire Line intersecting the 38th parallel near Panmunjom has served as border between North Korea and South Korea.
This armistice was agreed to by the UN, China and DPRK, but never signed by ROK, as President Syngman Rhee refused, insisting it would leave the Korean nation permanently divided.
3. However, there was no agreed North-South delimitation line for the seas nearby. On August 30, 1953, UN and US unilaterally decided to draw in the Northern Limit Line (NLL) to serve as maritime borders. However, DPRK, not recognizing this NLL, decided to draw its own Maritime Military Borderline (MMB) to the south of NLL in 1999, and in January, 2009, reaffirmed its view that the NLL was not valid.
4. One important consequence of this war may be the San Francisco Treaty of Peace with Japan, signed in September, 1951, and the US-Japan Mutual Security Treaty, signed on the same day, in the same city. The US had decided to expedite peace with Japan, to ensure she would stay within the Western camp as a reliable US ally.
5. In 1953, ROK and the US concluded a Treaty of Mutual Defense, on the basis of which US Forces are stationed in ROK. The US maintained its responsibility for wartime operational control over all forces in ROK, despite the end of the Korean War in its real dimensions.
6. There were heavy casualties (killed or wounded) on each side.
North Korea and China : 1.5 million
South Korea : 850 thousand
US and other UN : 170 thousand
7. The founding of the Communist state in North Korea in 1948 and the ensuing Korean War led to a total of 1.5 million refugees fleeing from the north for South Korea, and this created a total of 4.5-6 million separated families in North Korea and South Korea.
8. Despite the 1953 armistice, no peace treaty has yet been concluded, and there seems no end to intermittent cross-border skirmishes and sabotage attempts by North Korea.
