Annex 5: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874 (2009)

Historical and Geopolitical Background: a brief history of the Korean peninsula
Background
On the 24 th August 1910, Korea was
fully annexed by the Japanese Empire.
The colonisation would take 35 years.
The occupation of Korea by Japan was
efficient, though harsh and repressive.
The Korean population was almost
totally excluded of government and
administration. The Korean peninsula
served Japan economically, both in
agriculture and in industry. From 1919
onwards, an independence movement
started to take root in Korea. The
Japanese occupation has left Koreans
of the elder generation with a general
distrust of the intentions of Japan,
even today. It would take until 1945 before Korea would be free again. However, soon after
the liberation, it was already clear that an autonomous and independent Korean peninsula
would become very difficult to achieve (Verheyen, 2006).
In the Potsdam Agreement of 1945, it was decided
that the north of the country came under the control
of the Soviet Union, whereas the South came under
the influence of the United States of America.
Henceforth, the global geopolitical East-West divide
made both Koreas a front-line, in geopolitical and
geostrategical terms. The 38 th parallel (degree of
latitude) was established as the artificial border
between the two occupation zones. Two thirds of
Koreans lived in the south, whereas the industry
was mostly located in the north. Both the US and
the USSR tried to implement their own societal
model in their respective part of ‘Korea’. Therefore,
after the division into two separate countries, this
boundary became both a physical and ideological
border (Vanden Berghe, 2008: 162).
The US wanted to leave Korea without loosing face.
In 1947, the General Assembly of the United
Nations was asked to come up with a solution.
Because a Special Commission was not granted
access to the north, elections were only held in the south. Syngman Rhee, who had stayed in
the US during the 35 years of the Japanese occupation, was accepted as president by the
United Nations, and his government was considered “the only true government of the whole of
the Korean peninsula” (August 1948). In September 1948, the communists in North Korea
responded by forming a government under Kim Il-sung, who had fought together with other
nationalists and China’s communists under Mao against the Japanese. Later, Kim Il-sung had
also been an officer in the Russian Army, and he had fought together with the Soviets against
the Japanese in Manchuria. After establishing their respective governments, the Soviets
retreated in December 1948, the Americans did also in June 1949 (Vanden Berghe, 2008: 163).
© 2009 – Dr. D. Criekemans – Negotiations in UNSC on the continuing security provocations by North Korea 8