Abbreviations List of Tables Acknowledgement Introduction Sources of US Commitment toward Korea PART I: US DIPLOMACY TOWARD KOREA IN THE ERA OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR The Rise of Korean Expectation and Decline of US Commitment to Korea, 1882-1901 Great Power Rivalry and US Assessment at the Outbreak of the War US Diplomacy and the Japanese Imposition of Protectorate on Korea PART II: US DIPLOMACY TOWARD KOREA DURING WORLD WAR II Vision of Cooperation among the Allies and the Four- Power Trusteeship Plan for Korea Emergence of the Bi-Polar Perception and a Missed Opportunity for Diplomacy Consolidation of the Bi-Polar Perception and US Suggestion of the Thirty-Eighth Parallel PART III: US POLICY TOWARD KOREA FROM 1945 TO JUNE 1950 Uncertain Strategic Situation and Rise of Competing Recommendations toward Korea The Re-emergence of a Multipolar Vision and the Decision for Withdrawal from Korea The Erosion of Multipolar Perception and the Road to Intervention Conclusion: US Commitment toward South Korea since 1950