Korean WarAlejandro A. Peña

The Korean was a conflict between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). Its main cause was the division of Korea, an agreement by the Soviet Union and the United States. The division of Korea happened in 1945 after the colonization of Korea from Japan and the WW2, the colonization started in 1910 years. It started in June 25, 1950, and it was stopped in July 27, 1953 by an armistice, however, since there is not an official document that ended the war, they are still in war. The division of Korea was a decision made by the Allies in the WW2 without even asking Korea. Because they wanted to stop the communism, however the Soviet Union took North Korea and US took South Korea. So, North Korea became communist and South Korea became Democratic.

The Soviet Union and China decided to support North Korea and US supported South Korea. The Korean War it’s also called “The Forgotten War” because it is barely mentioned conflict and the US media didn’t give it much attention unlike the WW2 and the Vietnam War. IT was the first armed fight during the Cold War.

The main purpose of the Korean War was to decide the political ideology of Korea, North Korea and Soviet Union wanted communism. The US was against communism, so they supported South Korea. The reason why US were involved in the Korean War was to stop the spread of communism. It was merely an action to stop the communism and they showed what the US could do to stop the communism.

The leader of North Korea at that time was Kim II Sung. He was the ruler of North Korea since 1948 to the date of his death in 1994. He was pro communism, and he was an ally of Stalin. Stalin was the general secretary of the communist Party of the Soviet Union. He with Stalin created the North Korean Peoples' Army with Soviet tanks and guns. In June 25 of 1950 he ordered to attack South Korea with the North Korean Peoples' Army crossing the 38th parallel. He also asked for help from China, and he received support from Mao. Mao was a revolutionist in favour of the communism; he founded the People’s Republic of China. Thus China was involved in the Korea War as well supporting North Korea. The United Nations thought that the attack from North Korea was an aggression, so it demanded a withdrawal of North Korea and sent the American troops to the South to resist the attack of the North Koreans. The British government also act against this attack and sent its troops.

President Truman established all his military equipment on South Korea and He led General Douglas McArthur on the command of the army. He also established some military bases on Japan. Japan during the Cold War stayed neutral with some anxiety of more war or nuclear weapons from North Korea. It was just a helper of USA, those bases still remain today and USA has a defence treaty with Japan. The British government also put military bases over Korea to maintain the track of the war.

The war didn’t stop quickly. Truman sent the 24th infantry The North Korean army continued to advance to Pusan at the southeast part of Korea. However the US army and its allies (like Britain and Japan) landed in Incheon on the west coast of South Korea. So, the called “Battle of Pusan Perimeter”. 140,000 from the United Nation were sent to the Pusan Perimeter in where there were approximately 98,000 men from the North Korea army. The Pusan Perimeter length 250 km, it was located obviously in Pusan, in the southeast part of Korea. As I said before the US sent the 24th infantry, but then the US sent some other infantries like 7th Infantry Division and 25th Infantry Division to stay firm on the situation. North Korea also sent their infantries with a lot of men and guns from the Soviets. However the United Nations were able to take the situation and MacArthur returned the Korean army to North Korea.

The war continued in the 38th

parallel, MacArthur wanted to end the war for once. He planned to invade North Korea and do a massive attack, but president Truman didn’t like that idea because it was too risky. So, he was removed because of his idea and was replaced by the General Matthew B. Ridgway. Ridgway was pacifist and he wanted to do some negotiations with North Korea and its ally, China. China played an important role in the Korean War. China supported North Korea, thus Truman saw China as a foe for US and the United Nations. China was undecided to launch its army. Mao wanted the intervention of the army on Korea, but some other like Lin Biao, a military leader, didn’t approve this idea. So Mao created the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, an unofficial Chinese army made by volunteers. He didn’t use the official army of China because he didn’t want to have a war with the United Nations.

In 1952 during the selections of US, the nominee of the presidency, Dwight David Eisenhower, promised to end the Korean War and prevent a war with China. The people liked his idea and he became the president of the United States in 1953. He then created an armistice in which he demands to stop the Korean War and China’s intervention. It wasn’t easy to make the countries sign the armistice. He threatened North Korea with nuclear weapons just like Truman did when he threatened Japan in the past. The United Nations and North Korea approved this armistice. North Korea signed the armistice in July 27, 1953 and the two Koreas

became peaceful. The fighting ended, however, the Koran War didn’t. It is technically still in course. The Koreas are still pacific but the war is still going on.

After the war South Korea recovered quickly, the economy grew and it was modernized, unlike North Korea. North Korea is still underdevelopment. The South Korea grew drastically during the century, and the North Korean grew a little bit. Million of civilians died, there is not an exact number, and during the three years of war most of the city were destroyed. People of the South and North Korea want the reunification, sometimes because their family is divided because of the Korean division. The two Koreans expend money on their military to react to an attack from the one of the Korea, North Korea’s economy is so bad that it may cause a bad effect in the good economy of South Korea and South Korea remains democratic and North Korea remains communist. So the reunification is not a good idea, although most of the people want to unite the two Koreas.

US’ participation in the Korean War was crucial to end the War. Their intervention was merely to prevent the spread of communism. President Truman stated that the North Koran invasion was an act of the Soviet Union to spread the communism ad that the US must act against this war. To do nothing would appear to the Soviets like if the US were afraid of them.

Bibliography;

Various Contributors (???). Korean WarRetrieved May 8, 2012, fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War

Michael Hickey (March 21, 2011). Korean War: An OverviewRetrieved May 8, 2012, fromhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/korea_hickey_01.shtml

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia (2007). Korean WarRetrieved May 8, 2012, fromhttp://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/korean+war

History (???). Korean WarRetrieved May 8, 2012, fromhttp://www.history.com/topics/korean-war

Unidentified Author (???). Korean WarRetrieved May 8, 2012, fromhttp://www.lessonsite.com/ArchivePages/HonorsAmericanhistory/lesson25/korean_war.htm

Charles Armstrong (May 24, 2010). The Korean War never ended.Retrieved May 8, 2012, fromhttp://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-24/opinion/armstrong.north.korea_1_north-korea-kim-jong-korean-war-armistice?_s=PM:OPINION