Drawing on multi-archival research in Korean, Russian and English, this book looks at the complexity and changes in Stalin's policy toward Korea for answers about the division of Korea in 1945 and the failure of reunification between 1945 and 1948. Lee argues that the trusteeship decision is key to the division's origins and permanency.

When the major powers sent troops to the Korean peninsula in June of 1950, it supposedly marked the start of one of the last century's bloodiest conflicts. In volume 1, Allan Millett, however, reveals that the Korean War actually began with partisan clashes two years earlier and had roots in the political history of Korea under Japanese rule, 1910-1945. In volume 2, he shifts his focus to the twelve-month period from North Korea's invasion of South Korea on June 25, 1950, through the end of June 1951 -- the most active phase of the internationalized "Korean War."

Prolonging North Korea's life may actually increase the costs and the dangers of its inevitable demise.

The Yalta Conference is best known for planning the division of Germany after Nazi surrender, but by drawing the Soviet Union into the Pacific theater of World War II, it also laid the groundwork for the partition of the Korean peninsula along the 38th parallel. Cold War tensions were high when the communist North invaded the capitalist South in 1950, setting off the Korean War, which ended in a stalemate and an unchanged border. This intriguing volume explains this lesser-known portion of World War II and Cold War history, from the Soviet influence on Japan's surrender in World War II to the creation of the two Korean countries we know today, while exploring how these circumstances brought us to the current strained political landscape.

"After a survey of Korea's geographic setting and historic legacy, Olsen details the circumstances of Korea's liberation and subsequent division. Drawing on that background, he analyzes the evolution of both South Korea and North Korea as separate states and surveys the politics, economics, and foreign policy of each."--BOOK JACKET.

South Korea has a remarkable history. Born from the ashes of imperial domination, partition and a devastating war, back in the 1950s there were real doubts about its survival as an independent state. Yet South Korea endures: today it is a boisterous democracy, a vibrant market economy, a tech powerhouse, and home to the coolest of cultures. In just seventy years, this society has grown from a shrimp into a whale. What explains this extraordinary transformation? For some, it was individual South Koreans who fought to change their country, and still strive to shape it. For others, it was forward-looking political and business leaders with a vision. Either way, it’s clear that this is the story of a people who dreamt big, and whose dreams came true. Shrimp to Whale is a lively history of South Korea, from its millennia-old roots, through the division of the Peninsula, dictatorship and economic growth, to today’s global powerhouse.