335. Battleground Korea: Episode I - The Spark of Division
Welcome to Battleground Korea: The Unfinished War.
We begin by exploring how Korea, a nation scarred by decades of Japanese occupation, was suddenly and arbitrarily divided by the victorious Allies in 1945. The line was the 38th Parallel.
This division birthed two fiercely opposing regimes and leaders: the Soviet-backed communist Kim Il Sung in the North, and the American-backed nationalist Syngman Rhee in the South. As the Cold War escalated, Korea rapidly became a volatile proxy battleground between East and West.
"With American and Soviet forces withdrawing, the fragile peace along the…
The skinny
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