THE CONTINUING COST OF REFUSING TO WIN WWII:

A massive crowd had gathered in Pyongyang to celebrate the Soviet Union's role in freeing Korea from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule. The rally also gave Soviet Gen. Nikolai Levedev the opportunity to introduce Kim Il Sung, whom Levedev declared a "national hero." Many of those in attendance knew the name -- Kim had been a valiant anti-Japanese guerrilla. But when the 33-year-old read a speech written by his Soviet handlers, many in the crowd were skeptical that someone so young who had spent so much time abroad was experienced enough to become the nation's savior.

After more than a quarter-century of exile in Manchuria and the Soviet Union, Kim Il Sung had returned to an impoverished Korean Peninsula in September 1945, a month before the rally. By then, the Soviets and the Americans had settled into occupation zones north and south of the 38th parallel, respectively, while a cauldron of competing domestic and foreign political factions vied for power.

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