SELECTION OF THE PLACE OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA IN THE PACIFIC SECURITY SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES ON THE EVE OF THE KOREAN WAR (1948-EARLY 1950)

The article is devoted to such aspects of the United States policy toward Korea in 1948-1950 as the process of inclusion the Republic of Korea in the US Pacific security system. The aim of the study is to identify the ideas and approaches that influenced on the position of the Republic of Korea inside US Pacific security system. Primary sources of the research are the materials of the Foreign Policy Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Internet archives, published and unpublished documents of the diplomatic departments of the USSR and the USA, materials from the US Congress, declassified Central Intelligence Agency documents, memoirs of US policymakers. The author discusses the following problems of the US Korean policy history as: the strategic importance of the Korean peninsula for United States national security, the withdrawal of US troops from the territory of Korea; formation of documentary base of Korean-American relations; the role of the United States Congress in the implementation of Korean politics; the impact of border provocations along the 38th parallel on the perception of the communist threat by US establishment. The article describes the US tasks on the Korean peninsula after fixation of the Korean division into two independent states, examines the methods of Washington's policy on the peninsula, characterizes the resources spent on the implementation of the US political course, and evaluates the effectiveness of Washington's foreign policy. Attention is focused on the priorities chosen by the American establishment. The study suggests that the withdrawal of American troops from Korean peninsula was the central point of discussion among the United States foreign policy establishment regarding the place of Korea in the US Pacific security system. Final solution of that issue influenced on the set of instruments that the Americans could operate in the future. The final decision to withdraw the troops allowed to save resources spent on the occupation and reduce the risk of being drawn into a full-scale war in Korea. For a short time American diplomacy managed to achieve an acceptable result - Washington prevented Communist triumph over the whole Korean peninsula and formation of a communist monolith in Northeast Asia, significantly reduced the financial burden of United States participation in the Korean problem. However, this result was annulled by the direct involvement of the US in a Korean military conflict in summer of 1950.