Nevertheless, without recognizing the mutuality of needs, neither party can expect to reap the maximum future benefit from the alliance. This was six years after Korea signed its first modern treaty with Japan on the island of Kanghwa. But the growing ambitions of Japan and Russia concerning Korea and Manchuria evolved into war. Japan launched a successful surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in 1904. It should be noted that diplomatic notes exchanged between U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and the Japanese in a conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, acknowledged a trade-off between the Philippines and Korea.
History repeats itself in an intriguing way.
Dean Rusk, a major at the time, and Col. Charles H. Bonesteel, later a commander of the American forces in South Korea, were given just 30 minutes to select an appropriate line. They chose the 38th parallel and the Soviets readily agreed. There have been various accusations of U.S. complicity in the massacre, but one common contention among Koreans is that the United States was in a position to prevent Chun Doo Hwan and his minions from deploying the lethal Special Forces in the city. More than a few Koreans remain deeply critical of America's acquiescence to Chun's seizure of power and of the subsequent protestations by the United States that it should not be held responsible for the bloodshed in Kwangju. They resent the United States because the ideals of democracy and legality scorned by Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae-woo are values long espoused by the United States on the international stage.