United States Army Military Government in Korea
After the American arrival in September 1945, the United States Army Military Government in Korea controlled the peninsula south of the 38th parallel. The military governor Lieutenant-General John R. Hodge refused to recognize the PRK and its People's Committees, and outlawed it on 12 December. He later stated, "one of our missions was to break down this Communist government". On 19 July 1947, Lyuh Woon-hyung was assassinated by a right-wing Korean.