After Korea was liberated from its status as a colony of the Empire of Japan at the end of World War II, the peninsula had been divided between the Soviet Civil Administration in the North and the United States Army Military Government in Korea in the South.
As part of the original agreement to establish both governments, they both intended to eventually withdraw from the Korean peninsula.
The mandate was to "supervise free and open elections, assist in the withdrawal of the occupying forces, and guide the new political entity to full independence".
[2] The commission initially was composed of nine nations, and Australia, Canada and Syria played a dissenting role, resisting US plans to hold separate elections in South Korea.
Article 32 requires that both sides of the dispute be consulted, but Korean representatives from North and South Korea were never invited to address the UN.