(Korean War History) Post # 55, The Division of, 1945-1948

Prof. Kathryn Weathersby

When the Republic of Korea adopted its first constitution on 17 July 1948, it defined its territory as “the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands,” indicating that it would not accept as legitimate any government that might be created above the 38^th parallel. In keeping with this principle, President Syngman Rhee declared on September 5, four days before the leadership in the North established separate state, that “Communist Koreans leading the Soviet puppet regime in the North should repent their crimes” and join the only legal government in Korea. He also accused Communist Koreans in the North of “selling their fatherland to the Soviet Union.”

The condemnation of communist leaders in the North did not extend to the population of the northern zone, however. Instead, the Syngman Rhee government described the people of the North as captives who were deprived of all human rights. Given this perspective, it is not surprising that Seoul declared the ROK “morally and legally obliged to liberate North Korea.” Moreover, this obligation could only be fulfilled by “the military conquest of the North through a holy war against the communist devil,” which led to official ROK policy of “unification through armed forces.”

The US view, however, was that it did not want to be dragged into a war in Korea. American officials in Seoul therefore made it clear to Syngman Rhee that all US support would immediately cease if he attempted to “march north.” Moreover, the US refrained from providing the kinds of weapons needed for a military offensive. In this situation, the ROK appealed to the authority of the United Nations as a route to unification. On September 12 the National Assembly passed a resolution addressing the people of the North saying, “We hope you, our countrymen in North Korea, will hold a general election soon in a free atmosphere, in accordance with the United Nations resolution, as we did, and elect the true representatives of the people, and send them to the National Assembly.” It then reserved 100 seats for such North Korean representatives.

While the US refused to back a military approach to reunification, it did support Rhee’s efforts to gain UN recognition of the ROK’s legitimacy. After the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea submitted its report to the UN First Committee, the US introduced a resolution to the General Assembly in December 1948 to declare the Republic of Korea to be the legitimate government of Korea. The Soviet Union challenged this resolution and submitted its own proposal that the UN create a new means to reestablish Korea as “an independent democratic state.” The General Assembly voted down the Soviet resolution and on 12 December approved the American resolution by a vote of 48 to 6, with one abstention.

The wording of the UN resolution was careful and important. It declared that “there has been established a lawful government having effective control and jurisdiction over the part of Korea where the Temporary Commission was able to observe and consult and in which the great majority of the people of all Korea reside” and that this government was based on an election that was “a valid expression of the free will of the electorate of that part of Korea.” It described the ROK as “the only government in Korea” even though it did not declare that the ROK was the government of the entire peninsula.

After receiving this endorsement from the United Nations, the Rhee government emphasized three reasons that unification must be realized as quickly as possible. First, division makes it impossible for all Koreans to lead a sound national and economic life. Second, it is tantamount to cutting a body into two pieces, and thus, a unified Korea is the only natural and appropriate political and economic unit. Third, since division causes much tragedy and confusion, unification is the key to ending the misfortune of Koreans. 

In the next post, we will examine how the government established in the north in September 1948 responded to the above claims of the ROK.

[Sources: This post relies on Kim Hakjoon, The Domestic Politics of Korean Unification: Debates on the North in the South, 1948-2008 (Seoul and Edison NJ: Jimoondang, 2010)]