The History of the Kural Islands

In the middle of the 19th century, the Russians and Japanese shared Saqalin Island. And there was an agreement which said that Japan could essentially take control of all the Kural Islands up to the tip of the Kamchatkaparinsula. So, this situation stood for a very long time. Then the Russians expanded eastwards. They took over Manchuria. And they also took control of the port city of Dalian, which is currently part of China. And they established a major port of Vladivostok, which is right north of North Korea. In 1945 itself, the Soviets launched an invasion of the Korean island chain just two days after the atomic test on Hiroshima