The division of Korea began on August 15, 1945 when the official announcement of the surrender of Japan was released, thus ending the Pacific Theater of World War II. During the war, the Allied leaders had already been considering the question of Korea's future following Japan's eventual surrender in the war. The leaders reached an understanding that Korea would be liberated from Japan but would be placed under an international trusteeship until the Koreans would be deemed ready for self-rule. In the last days of the war, the United States proposed dividing the Korean peninsula into two occupation zones with the 38th parallel as the dividing line. The Soviets accepted their proposal and agreed to divide Korea.
Lyuh Woon-hyung giving a speech in the Committee for Preparation of Korean Independence in Seoul on 16 August 1945
Welcome celebration for the Red Army in Pyongyang on 14 October 1945
Japanese handed over the government to the US army in Seoul on 9 September 1945
Anti-trusteeship Movement [ko] protests in the South (December 1945)
The Soviet–Japanese War, known in Mongolia as the Liberation War of 1945, was a campaign of the Second World War that began with the Soviet invasion of Japanese-occupied territory following the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 7 August 1945. The Soviet Union and Mongolian People's Republic toppled the Japanese puppet states of Manchukuo in Manchuria and Mengjiang in Inner Mongolia, as well as northern Korea, Karafuto on the island of Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. The defeat of Japan's Kwantung Army helped bring about the Japanese surrender and the end of World War II. The Soviet entry into the war was a significant factor in the Japanese government's decision to surrender unconditionally, as it was made apparent that the Soviet Union was not willing to act as a third party in negotiating an end to hostilities on conditional terms.
Sailors from the Pacific Fleet Marines raise the flag over Port Arthur.
About 1,831,000 Soviet personnel were awarded the Medal "For the Victory over Japan" following 30 September 1945.
Manchuria Sumitomo Metal Industries in Anshan looted by USSR Army
A Manchurian Government printing plant in Changchun completely pillaged by USSR Army