Korean History › Division & Korean War › Division of Korea at the 38th parallel
US Army Military Government in Korea
1945–1948· Empire, kingdom or state· Rulers & states
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
The US Army ran southern Korea directly from September 1945 until the Republic of Korea's founding in August 1948.
See it on the Korean History map →What happened
General John R. Hodge's XXIV Corps landed at Incheon on September 8, 1945, and set up the military government (미군정). It refused to recognize Lyuh Woon-hyung's People's Republic or the returning Provisional Government, and at first kept Japanese officials, then many Korean colonial-era police and bureaucrats, in place. It faced food shortages, inflation, strikes and the 1946 Autumn Uprising around Daegu. In 1948 it sold former Japanese-owned farmland to tenants and, with UN backing, held separate southern elections.
Why it matters
Its choices, especially relying on anti-communists and colonial-era police, shaped the South's early elite, its politics and the left–right violence that followed.
How we know
US Army records and its official history of US forces in Korea, State Department papers, Korean newspapers, and archival studies by Bruce Cumings and others.
Still debated
Historians debate whether US policy was mostly improvised and unprepared or deliberately built an anti-communist state, as revisionists such as Bruce Cumings argue.
Connections (2)
▸Division of Korea at the 38th parallel placed the south under US Army Military Government in KoreaWell documented
The connection
Below the 38th parallel the US Army took over the Japanese colonial administration and governed directly. With few Korean speakers and little advance planning, it leaned on English-speaking conservatives and colonial-era officials and police, turning a temporary zone into a separate southern political system.
When and how
Seoul, from September 8–9, 1945, under General John R. Hodge and Military Governor Archibald Arnold.
How we know
Military government ordinances and reports, the US Army's official history of its forces in Korea, and State Department papers on Korea policy.
Debates and open questions
Whether the US intended a separate southern state from the start or drifted there as US–Soviet talks failed is debated.
▸US Army Military Government in Korea oversaw the 1948 elections that created Republic of Korea (South Korea)Well documented
The connection
After US–Soviet talks failed, the US took Korea to the UN, which in November 1947 called for nationwide elections. The Soviets refused UN observers entry, so the military government ran the May 10, 1948, vote in the south under a UN commission's eye. The elected assembly founded the Republic, and the US handed over authority.
When and how
Southern Korea, May 10, 1948; authority passed to the new government on August 15, 1948, in Seoul.
How we know
UN General Assembly resolutions of 1947 and 1948, the UN commission's reports, election records, and US transfer agreements.
Debates and open questions
The election's fairness is debated: turnout was high, but leftists and Kim Gu's camp boycotted, and police and youth groups pressured voters.