Australia in the Korean War weeks later by the American forces who entered through Incheon. US Army Lieutenant General John R. Hodge formally accepted the surrender of Japanese forces south of the 38th Parallel on 9 September 1945 at the Government House in Seoul. Although both rival factions tried initially to diplomatically reunite the divided nation, it was the Northern faction that eventually decided to try and do so with military force. Troops from the Soviet backed North Korean Army crossed the 38th parallel on 25 June 1950 beginning a civil war. The invasion of South Korea came as a surprise to the United Nations.
Soviet Union in the Korean War both an unreliable and demanding ally and took greater steps to ensure autarky from the USSR in the years following the War. In 1960, China broke from the Soviet Union in an event known today as the Sino-Soviet Split, creating a rift amongst all communist powers which were expected to pick one side of the divide. The North Korean regime, which bordered both countries, successfully navigated the split by playing one power off against the other. It did not firmly align with either power until the Soviet reforms under Mikhail Gorbachev compelled the regime to align with China. This split,