The Yalta Conference

Home > Opinion > Meanwhile

The Yalta Conference

Published: 04 Feb. 2026, 00:05

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Roh Jeong-tae

The author is a writer and senior fellow at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

On Feb. 4, 1945, as the end of World War II came into view, the leaders of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union gathered in the Black Sea resort city of Yalta. Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Winston Churchill of Britain and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union agreed to hold a weeklong summit to discuss the postwar handling of Nazi Germany and related issues. Thus began the Yalta Conference.

Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, left, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, center, and Premier Joseph Stalin attend the Yalta Conference in February 1945, where they decided Germany's post-war fate. [WIKIPEDIA]

Germany’s fate had effectively been sealed. The country was to be placed under divided occupation by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. The Allied powers agreed to ensure only the minimum living conditions for the German population and to assume no further responsibility beyond that. Germany’s arms industry would be dismantled and confiscated, and major war criminals would be sent to an international tribunal to take place in Nuremberg. A disarmed and divided Germany would host Allied troops, particularly U.S. forces, standing in opposition to the Soviet Union.

A secret protocol was adopted concerning issues in the Far East. Once Germany surrendered, the Soviet Union agreed to break its neutrality pact with Japan and enter the war against Tokyo within “two or three months.” The United States, reluctant to confront Japan’s Kwantung Army stationed in Manchuria directly, sought to counter one adversary with another. This calculation would prove to be a grave misjudgment. Japan surrendered just five days after the Soviet Union entered the war. Soviet troops advanced rapidly into the Korean Peninsula, reaching the 38th parallel. Not only Germany, which had started the war, but also colonial Korea, which had been drawn into it against its will, ended up divided.

The Yalta Conference marked both the end of World War II and the beginning of the postwar order. The barbed wire of the Cold War split Germany into East and West in Europe and divided the Korean Peninsula into North and South in Asia. When North Korea invaded South Korea, the Cold War could no longer be described as “cold.” The United States was already helping rebuild the economies of Germany and Japan, both former enemy states, to counter the communist bloc. The world order that has shaped global affairs for the past 80 years began in this way. As signs now suggest that this order may be approaching its end, the need for calm judgment and clear thinking has never been greater.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.