ABSTRACT
North Korea's long-time leader, Kim Il Sung, was very much one of Stalin's proteges. In 1946—by that time chairman of the Soviet-sponsored Provisional People's Committee—he took over control of the Soviet zone. By that time, Japanese colonizers had been driven out of Korea. On 10 January 1950, the Soviet ambassador in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, T. F. Shrykov, reported to Stalin about a conversation he had had with Kim II Sung during a reception at the Chinese embassy. By 20 June, the South Koreans had been forced to retreat over the Han River south of the capital, Seoul, by now in Communist hands. At this point, General Douglas MacArthur, who had visited the front on President Truman's orders, was back in Tokyo, where he described the Korean retreat as a rout. Immersed in his own glory, MacArthur appears to have dismissed the threat of Chinese intervention.
