Question

How did Russia wind up occupying North Korea in the first place

a
They sent in troops to occupy North Korea at the end of WW2, when Japan was defeated and had to withdraw from the Korean peninsula.
b
The USSR has always controlled a portion of North Korea. They simply expanded that control at the end of WW2.
c
They sent in troops to conquer Korea at the beginning of WW2. It was part of their strategy of containing Japan to conquer Germany.
d
The USSR did not control North Korea.

Answer 1

The correct answer is a- "They sent in troops to occupy North Korea at the end of WW2, when Japan was defeated and had to withdraw from the Korean peninsula". The Korean peninsula was a Japanese colony. Japan lost control of Korea when it surrendered to the Allied Powers - Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States -- in 1945. By 1949, the United States and the Soviet Union had removed their forces from Korea. In an attempt to reunify the peninsula under communist rule, on June 25, 1950, with Soviet approval, North Korea launched an assault on South Korea.