태평양전쟁 초기 중국의 팽창주의와 미국의 한반도 신탁통치 결정(1941~1943)

Abstract

After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the importance of China on the Asian battlefield had greatly increased as Britain and the U.S. were on the defensive. The Kuomintang government took the opportunity of China’s rise in international status to try to dominate the issues regarding the independence of Asian colonies so as to ensure China’s leadership in Asia after the War. With regard to Korea, Chiang Kai-shek actively sought a commitment to Korean independence and recognition of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Chungking by the Great Allied Powers, with the primary purpose of preventing the development of Soviet-supported Korean group in postwar Korea. BR The U.S. policy toward Korea, in the earlier stages of the War, was gradually developed in response to these demands from China. Considering China’s active demands in Korea, the U.S. agreed to Korean independence but refused to recognize the Provisional Government of Korea. The consideration of Soviet interests was the main reason why the U.S. refused. The U.S. thought that the Soviet Union also had significant geographical and historical interests in Korea and therefore believed that the Soviet Union would not be absent from the post-war negotiation table on the Korean issue. In late 1942, Chiang took advantage of the serious crisis in the Soviet Union during the Battle of Stalingrad to make more aggressive demands to Roosevelt to exclude the Soviet Union from the Korean issue. Chiang’s positive attitude toward the Korean issue alerted the U.S. to Chiang’s territorial ambitions for postwar Korea. This concern of the U.S. over Chiang’s expansionism added urgency to the decision of international trusteeship over Korea.