SOVIET EXPANSIONISM IN KOREA

Created: 2/20/1948

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

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EXPANSIONISM IN KOREA

Intention of the USSR to establish an indi-pendont regime In North Korea and eventually to dominate nileon farther revealed by the following recenthe announcement by the North Korean radio of the completion of the "draft provisional constitution ofhe stagingommunist-instigated strike in South Korearotest against the UN Commission's "illegal interference" with Korean independence;he review at Pyongyang in North Korea of the "Korean People's Army" and the subsequent propaganda announcehat this army would be the future liberator of the "oppressed" South Koreans.

Although the USSR has scrupulously avoided direct implication In these events, there is no doubt that the Kremlin has been engineering their development for many months. Since the beginning of the occupation, the USSR has beenorth Korean army, clandestinely trained by Soviet advisers and equipped with Soviot weapons. The "draft provisionalhichegime remarkably similar to that of the USSR, anticipates eventual incorporation of all Korea into the "People's Republic of Korea" and goes so far as to specify Seoul, capital of the present US zone, as the future capitalnited Korea,

The "draft constitution" probably will be acclaimed by "people's representatives" of both North and Southass demonstrationi5agyaagarchoman patriotic holiday) and vilU be adoptedpecial assembly oi tbe North Korean People's council in mid-March. The questions of whether tolebiscite Ino secure "popular approval" prior to the adoption of tha constitution and whether subsequently to extend formal recognition to tbe regime will probably be decided by the Kremlin In accord with political expediency.

Despite the relative complexity of thes? day-to-day tactical maneuvers, tho underlying trend in Korea remains clear. Soviot intransigence and expansionism ;ire driving

Hdres.alonghhe Vli is snaMaorJfahle compromise ando major change occurs in Soviet policy, there will soon be twoKorean gorwrarnssisommon frontier alongh riarallel, each claiming sovereignty over all of Korea. Such aa unresolved situation will be basically unstable and willprovide tho USSR with an excellent opportunity to extenddomination over tha entire peninsula.