ABSTRACT
At the end of World War II, Soviet and US forces divided Korea between them along the 38th parallel. With either the United States, the Soviet Union, or the Koreans able to agree on how the two Koreas were to be unified, both halves moved toward their own governments. In September 1948, the People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed, and, in communist fashion, Kim Il-sung was elected premier by its Assembly. When North Korean forces were forced to retreat from much of their own land, some North Korean civilians took revenge for the lives they had been forced to live by killing communists and their supporters, although apparently on a disorganized personal basis. When the Korean communists retook their territory, especially after the war ended, the party sought out and executed those who had attacked communists. Throughout the Korean War, communist treatment of captured UN soldiers was worse than that doled out by the Russians.
