PoliticsDecember 1945 – 1946

Anti-Trusteeship Movement

Kim Gu, Syngman Rhee and the right opposed trusteeship; the left at first opposed it too, then switched to supporting the Moscow decision.

Anti-trusteeship demonstration in Seoul with "Absolutely oppose trusteeship" banners, December 1945
Unknown author · Public domain · Source

When the trusteeship plan was announced, the right, led by Kim Gu, formed a national mobilization committee against trusteeship. The left also opposed it at first, but in early 1946 switched to supporting the Moscow decision as a whole.

The split between anti-trusteeship (right) and support for the Moscow decision (left) ran through the rest of the road to government.

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The map in 1945

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States at the time: US Army Military Government in Korea

People

Kim Gu1876 – 1949
leader · Known as Baekbeom; founded the Korean Patriotic Organization and led the Liberation Army as Chairman of the Provisional Government
Syngman Rhee1875 – 1965
participant · First President of the Provisional Government, who worked through diplomacy in the US; later first President of the Republic of Korea
Pak Hon-yong1900 – 1956
related figure · Communist who rebuilt the Korean Communist Party after liberation and led the South Korean Workers' Party, became vice premier and foreign minister of North Korea in 1948 and was later purged