Category: Asia

THE PARTITION OF KOREA
Korea, a Japanese protectorate since 1905 and a Japanese colony since 1910, officially gained independence in 1945, but was de facto occupied in the north by the Soviet Union and in the south by the USA. In 1948, at the 38th parallel, the country was split into two states. The invasion of the south by North Korean troops sparked the Korean War in 1950, in which the south received support from the United States on behalf of the UN, while the north received Chinese arms aid.

The ceasefire agreement of 1951 restored the old borders, but also led to a hermetic demarcation of the two states. The north became communist, the south developed into a western-oriented republic.

SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE SOVIET UNION
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev’s election as general secretary of the CPSU led to profound political changes in the Soviet Union, which subsequently changed the Asian world of states. The internal democratic reforms sparked the secession of many non-Russian peoples, which eventually led to the collapse of the USSR. On December 26, 1991, the former world power was formally declared dissolved. In addition to the Russian Federation, the successor states Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania emerged on their territory. The Nagorno-Karabakh region, located between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has also declared itself independent in the course of the collapse of the USSR, 282.1). The latest trouble spots are the Crimea, the Ukrainian territory, which has been under Russian administration since 2014, and eastern Ukraine.

The areas that have unilaterally declared their independence but have no international recognition include Nagorno-Karabakh (between Armenia and Azerbaijan) and South Ossetia and Abkhazia (parts of Georgia under international law). For more information about the continent of Asia, please check businesscarriers.com.