Korea: The Implications of Withdrawal

TLDR: The Korean Peninsula has been a major factor in the tumultuous history of Northeast Asia as a whole as discussed by the authors, and it has played a principal determinant in shaping the character and destiny of every country.

Abstract: GEOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHY PLAYS some role in shaping the character and destiny of every country.' For Korea, over the centuries, it has been a principal determinant. Indeed, geography has been a major factor in the tumultuous history of Northeast Asia as a whole. Draw a 700mile arc centered on Seoul and you encompass Tokyo, Peking, and the air and naval bases contiguous to Vladivostok. Viewed from Peking, Korea has been the land bridge from the Asian mainland to the Japanese islands; Tokyo has the reciprocal view. In the eyes of first the Tsars and later the Politburo, the Korean Peninsula was (is) an extension of the territory of Mother Russia, thus flanking China. Small wonder, then, that for a thousand years or more, the Korean Peninsula has been a battleground for the armies of these three powers, contending for control of that small appendage of the East Asian land mass. Throughout, the Korean people have maintained their ethnic and cultural distinction from their neighbors and their determination not to be assimilated-a main reason why the Peninsula has remained the scene of struggle. In the final days of World War II, and pursuant to the agreements at Yalta and Potsdam, the Soviet Union moved quickly to take control of the northern half of the Korean Peninsula, installed Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang, and maneuvered to bring all of the Peninsula under Soviet hegemony. There is evidence that Soviet plans for Korea went far beyond the blueprint for Eastern Europe-perhaps even to its incorporation as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. Unable to achieve a unified Communist Korea by political means and misreading