Chronology: Key Events in The USA and the Cold War in Asia.

1919 Beginning of Japanese colonial rule and Korean protests against this.

1945 February: USA and Soviet Union agree on a trusteeship for Korea (1).
August: Division of Korea into North and South by way of the 38th parallel. Local People’s Committees set up (2).
September: Korean People’s Party established.

1946 February: Representative Democratic Council established and chaired by Syngman Rhee. Interim People’s Committee established and led by Kim Il Sung.
June: Chinese Civil War restarted (3).
October: Elections for the South Korean Interim Assembly.

1947 March: Announcement of the Truman Doctrine (4).
September: Proclamation made by George Marshall to UN General Assembly on Korean independence.

1948 February: North Korean People’s Army established.
March: Elections for South Korea announced, to take place in May.
May: South Korean elections.
August: Republic of Korea established and led by Syngman Rhee as President.
September: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea established.

1949 March: Kim Il Sung travels to Moscow to meet Stalin for the first time.
October: People’s Republic of China established (5).

1950 January: Press Club speech made by Dean Acheson (6). Stalin suggests he is willing to help Kim Il Sung organise an offensive against South Korea.
April: Stalin formally confirms offer of support to Kim Il Sung. President Truman approves draft of NSC68 (7).
May: Chairman Mao formally confirms offer of support to Kim Il Sung.
June: Korean offensive begins.

(1) Trusteeship was a strategy that supported eventual independence for colonial territories but only after a period of fairly lengthy guidance by the great powers. The US version originated during the presidential rule of Roosevelt, who based his model on Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations mandate system.

(2) People’s Committees were first established in August 1945. They consisted mainly of people who were sympathetic towards communist or socialist ideas, although some were simply nationalists. They came from a variety of backgrounds and included landlords, former soldiers, students and Koreans who had worked for the Japanese.

(3) This was between the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek and Communists under the command of Mao Zedong. In June 1946, Syngman Rhee predicted that a similar civil conflict would develop in Korea if Communism gained momentum.

(4) President Truman stated that the USA would ‘support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures’.

(5) Mao Zedong won the Chinese Civil War and established a communist government in China.

(6) In this speech, US secretary of State Dean Acheson claimed that any attack by Communists on the South of Korea should be opposed by local military forces in the first instance. If this failed, then there would be ‘ a call upon the commitments of the civilized world under the Charter of the United Nations, which so far has not proved to be a weak reed by any people who are determined to protect their independence against outside aggression’.

(7) ‘National Security Council 68’ was a policy document published by the US government that demanded ‘greatly increased general air, ground and sea strength’ and ‘increased air defence and civilian defence programmes’. The Korean conflict was viewed as an opportunity to put the suggestions in to operation.