Korean Independence Movement

The Korean independence movement was a military and diplomatic campaign to achieve the independence of the Korean peninsula from the Empire of Japan. After the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, local resistance in Korea culminated in the March 1st Movement in 1919, which was crushed and sent Korean leaders to flee into China. In China, Korean independence activists built ties with the Chinese Nationalist Government which supported their Korean government in exile (KPG). At the same time, the Korean Liberation Army, which operated under the Chinese National Military Council and then the KPG, led attacks against Japan.

After the outbreak of the Pacific War gave China global allies in its struggle against Japan, China attempted to use this influence to assert Allied recognition of the KPG. However, the United States was skeptical of Korean unity and readiness for independence, preferring an international trusteeship-like solution for the peninsula. Although China achieved agreement by the Allies on eventual Korean independence in the Cairo Declaration of 1943, continued disagreement and ambiguity about the postwar Korean government lasted until Soviet-Japanese War created a de facto division of Korea into Soviet and American zones, prompting the Korean War.

The date of the Surrender of Japan is now an annual holiday called Gwangbokjeol (literally "Restoration of Light Day") in South Korea, and Chogukhaebangŭi nal (literally "Liberation of Fatherland Day") in North Korea.