The Partition of Korea after World War II A Global History

Sixty years after Korea's partition into South Korea and North Korea, a full understanding of how this partition occurred is still wanting. Based on a careful examination of sources in Russian, English and Korean, including new archival evidence from Moscow, this book seeks to provide this understanding. Taking into account not only the policies of the Soviet Union and the United States but also the roles played by the Koreans themselves, Jongsoo Lee untangles the complex dynamics of the Korean partition, placing this partition in the context of modern world history and the emerging Cold War. Comparing Korea with Germany, Austria, Finland and elsewhere after World War II, Lee suggests possible alternative outcomes to Korean partition, thus shedding light on Korea's present predicament as she faces the challenges of reunification.

Jongsoo Lee is Assistant Professor, Department of History & Political Science, at Manchester College and a Center Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.  Lee has also served as an Associate in Research at Harvard's Korea Institute.  A historian and a political scientist with broad research interests, Lee has taught at Dartmouth College and Bowdoin College.