ABSTRACT
The Soviet Union's smallest frontier is the 10.4 mile boundary with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The Soviet Union's recognition of Kim Il-sung's independence seemed to lessen many of its superpower predicaments, especially when detente with the United States seemed to be bearing fruit. The latter event was crucial as China's refusal to attend thereby severing Party-to-Party ties with the Soviets - was a major landmark in the Sino-Soviet split. Soviet-Japanese relations differed in one major way from broader superpower relations. The invasion of the Republic of Korea spurred Western unity, including Japanese friendship with the United States, in an anti-communist coalition. In Korea, unification poses a different problem in that it might result in a Chinese gain, and if achieved violently might lead to a serious crisis with Washington. The problems became more acute for the Soviet leadership with the onset of de-Stalinization by Khrushchev.
