• Korea was a Japanese colony

during WWII

• When Japan lost the war, Russian and

American troops liberated Korea

• The Russians and Americans

decided that Korea should be

divided at the 38th parallel in

1945

38th parallel

South Korea

North Korea

Puppet Governments

• The U.S. administered the South and put an anti-communist, pro-American leader in charge

• The USSR administered the North and put a Communist leader in charge

• Russians and Americans withdrew troops from this area in 1948 and 1949

Question: What is a “puppet government?”

In 1949 China

became Communist. Why is this

fact important to

Korea?Important to

the U.S.?

North Korea

South Korea

• Both Northern and Southern leaders wanted to unite the country – but with different types of government.

• Kim Il Sung (North Korean leader) understood that to resolve the problem of unifying the two Koreas was very difficult -- that he would need help. Of course the help he was hoping to get would come from the Soviet Union.

• 1950- NK invaded SK with 90,000 troops equipped with Soviet weapons & tanks

• Afraid that Korea would fall to Communism like China, the U.S. began to rush in troops.

• The U.S. brought the Korean situation up with the U.N.… – The Russians were boycotting the U.N, so the U.S.

convinced the UN to authorize a ‘police action’ to help the South Koreans.

– About 90% of troops were American

President Truman "Korea is a small country, thousands of miles away. But what is happening there is important to every American. The fact that communist forces have invaded Korea is a warning that there may be similar acts of aggression in other parts of the world ..."

The U.S. led UN forces pushed the North Koreans back to the 38th parallel and then kept going. They pushed all the way to the

border of China…

• American General MacArthur promised that the Chinese knew better than to mess with him– U.S. has atom bomb

• China attacked!

• U.S. forces turned and fled a route

• Interview: Lt. Col. Charles Bussey, U.S. Army

• "It was a rout exactly like the one that Napoleon faced leaving Russia. We ran head-long, helter-skelter, pell-mell, trying to get to Pusan, trying to get back to Japan. It was disgusting."

• MacArthur Advised Use of the Atom Bomb

• Truman refused

• MacArthur went public with his disagreement

• Truman Fired MacArthur

• The Americans eventually stopped the Chinese advance

• After several more years of inconclusive fighting back and forth, a cease fire was signed.

• Signed in 1953, it

declared the 38th parallel once again as the break between the two countries.

• Reflects new American foreign policy of containment

• Limited warfare (did not use atomic bomb)

• Integrated Armed forces

• Begin to see a dramatic increase in military spending & permanent mobilization

• To this day, North & South Korea remain divided.

• The U.S. has no formal diplomatic relationship with North Korea.

• The Cold War had become a Hot War

• Permanent mobilization (American troops/military bases around the world 2007)

• If you went to the 38th Parallel in Korea today, you would find a DMZ or de-militarized zone

• To this day, there is no formal peace treaty ending the Korean War.

• In fact, the U.S. has no formal diplomatic relationship with North Korea.

Today- North Korea is ‘communist’ but it is run by KIM Chong-il (the son of KIM Il-song, who died in 1994. Kim Chong-il rules with almost total power and is more of a totalitarian than a Communist. Kim Chong-Il

• In December 2002, North Korea repudiated a 1994 agreement that shut down its nuclear reactors and expelled UN monitors, further raising fears it would produce nuclear weapons.

Interesting Tidbit

• After the armistice, 50,000 communist POWs were released; approximately two-thirds of the Chinese asked to go to Taiwan. Of 12,000 U.N. prisoners released by North Korea, 21 U.S. prisoners and one Scot chose to stay in China.

• How do you think this information was used by the U.S.?