Korean War for Independence

The **Korean War for Independence** refers to the war fought between Korean resistance fighters against the Empire of Japan, who occupied the Korean peninsula. The war began in 1949 after an insurgency by the Korean People's Army, led by Kim Il-Sung. The communist revolutionaries were massively popular among the Korean people, and many would join them in resistance against Japan. However, Japan began to violently crack down on the uprising, which had taken over more than half of the peninsula, massacring crowds of protestors and imprisoning anyone who sympathized with the communists. Throughout the next five years, Japan would reclaim most of Korea, as the guerrilla resistance group would lose most of its territories and be forced into hiding along the mountains. However, despite this, the guerrilla war would continue, and the KPA's guerrilla tactics would improve as they would continually gain more land. The KPA would liberate half of Korea by 1974, and Japanese troops left the peninsula the very next year, as the independent People's Republic of Korea was established.

 Location
 Result
 Japan

## Background

Japan occupied parts of Korea beginning in the late 19th century, formally annexing the peninsula in 1910. Under Japanese colonialism, important resources such as crops and minerals were forcibly taken, as many Koreans starved. Koreans were forced to change their names into Japanese names under the pretext of "superior" Japanese culture. Hundreds of thousands were abducted and forced into slavery, as Korean men would perform unpaid labor within mainland Japan, and Korean women were sold into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers. Development of the peninsula was stifled by Japanese colonialism, and millions of Koreans suffered under colonial repression. Korean resistance groups would form during this period to fight against Japanese imperialism, hiding mostly in the northern mountains.

In 1937, the Japanese Empire began the invasion of Manchuria and mainland China, sparking the beginning of World War II. With the five colonial powers of Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Britain, and Imperial France becoming the Axis powers, the European colonial powers would begin the invasion of the Danube and the USSR, and Britain would invade Tibet and Western China, along with Japan invading Eastern China. In 1941, after the establishment of the Union of North American Socialist Council Republics, the UNA joined the war on the side of the Allies, fighting on both fronts. The UNA focused heavily on the Pacific front, especially after the bombings on the UNA's west coast by Japanese fighter pilots, including the deadly bombing of San Fransisco.

Despite the Axis' initial victories, the Allies began to regain their lost territories on both fronts by 1944, as the UNA used revolutionary island-hopping techniques to prove its naval and air superiority against the Japanese empire. Around this time, Korean resistance began to emerge heavily, and fighting in Korea would ensue between Japanese soldiers and Korean liberators. By 1946, the UNA and USSR would push out Japan from China, most of Manchuria, Taiwan, and most Pacific islands, as the Japanese military looked significantly weakened. After the Night of White Fire and the atomic bombings of Japan in 1946, a ceasefire was agreed to, as new territories were drawn. The Japanese empire was now limited to mainland Japan, Korea, and slim parts of Manchuria, as its military was in a severely weakened state.

As Korea remained under Japanese colonialism, repression against Korean resistance fighters picked back up, as many were forced to flee into Manchuria. However, the overwhelming unpopularity of the imperial Japanese government remained in the peninsula, as many were continually desperate to join the fight against the Japanese occupiers. That would happen in 1949, as tens of thousands of Korean and Manchurian fighters would emerge from the Manchurian border, beginning the Korean War for Independence.