Map of Korea and Japan Compliments of the Military Sea Transportation Service

Map of Japan and Korea issued shortly before the Korean War.

After the defeat of Japan in World War II, a power vacuum was left in much of east Asia. Allied occupying forces vied for control with the Chinese and Soviet neighbors, as well as responded to increasingly vocal movements for independence throughout the region. This map, showing Japan and Korea, captures the tension in the moments leading up to the Korean War.

A seemingly unified Korean peninsula gives no indication of Soviet occupation north of the 38th parallel, while an inset map shows the latest organizational updates such as the establishment of the United States of Indonesia and the Malay States. The verso features a black and white map of Japan, organized into prefectures with insets showing population density and the location of valuable minerals (important info for an occupational force).

The map was designed by Alexander Gross of the Royal Geographical Society and published in New York by the Geographia Map Company. The publication was underwritten by the U.S. Navy’s new Military Sea Transportation Service, which was organized in 1949 to encompass overseas military transportation for all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. Nine months after its creation, the MSTS faced its first challenge when Soviet forces crossed the border, and the Korean War began.