September 9
1945 United States Army General Douglas MacArthur took over administration of Japan as Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (SCAP). In this role, MacArthur did much to shape post-war Japan's political and economic systems.
The Public Broadcasting Service "American Experience" series offered a four hour documentary on MacArthur's career, devoting considerable attention to his role as Supreme Commander. The program's website offers supplementary materials (including extended interview transcripts), the broadcast transcript, information about people discussed in the documentary, an illustrated timeline, and a teacher's guide.
The Harvard University Asia Center website has several articles discussing how the occupation was affected by American geopolitical concerns. Michael Schaller discusses "Reversals of Fortune" and Thomas Christensen looks at "US-Japan Relations and China's Strategic Thinking."
1948 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established with its capital at Pyongyang. The defeat of Japan in 1945 yielded a divided Korean peninsula, with Soviet troops occupying the north and US forces occupying the south. Kim Il Sung, a former member of the Chinese Communist Party, and a small group of Korean Communists moved from Siberia into North Korea in September 1945. Cold war rivalry meant that the peninsula's division would not be readily ended. In the north Kim Il Sung dominated the government and opponents were suppressed while in 1948 in the south the US-dominated United Nations sponsored elections in the south leading to the creation of the Republic of Korea there in August. Kim Il Sung led North Korea until his death in 1994. He has been succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il.
You can access news about North Korea from the country's official Korean Central News Agency. US government web resources on North Korea include the CIA Factbook and the more elaborate but less up to date (1993) country study by the Library of Congress. Information on Kim Il Sung's writings and deeds are available at Kimsoft and at Thoughts and Words of the Great President Kim Il Sung.
The Teaching about Japan website is
edited by Clayton Dube.
He welcomes your comments and suggestions.
© 2001 UCLA Center for East Asian Studies