THE KOREAN WAR

Cryptologic Almanac SQth Anniversary SeriesThe Korean War: ·rhe First Phase(This article first appeared in June 2000.](U) In the aftennath of World War II, one of the thorniest problems for the United Stateswas the status of Korea. The peninsula had been an independent nation for centuries beforethe Japanese took it as a colony in 1910, but it was unclear whether Koreans could governthemselves after three decades of foreign rule. In August 1945, Soviet forces were fightingthe Japanese military o...