 The Soviet Union invaded the Japanese portion of Sakhalin on August 11, 1945, resulting the deaths of 20,000 civilians (see Soviet – Japanese War ( 1945) ). In the confusion that ensued, a rumour began to spread that ethnic Koreans could be serving as spies for the Soviet Union, and led to massacres of Koreans by Japanese police and civilians. Despite the generally limited amount of information about the massacres, two examples of massacres are comparatively well-known today: the incident in Kamishisuka (now Leonidovo) on August 18, 1945, and the incident in Mizuho Village (now Pozharskoye), which lasted from August 20 to August 23, 1945.
