Re-Unification of North and South Korea

The Korean War begun far before North Korea had launched their first assault upon South Korea. Nearing of the end of the Second World War, the Korean Peninsula had been under Japanese control. Soon enough it was liberated by both American and Soviet forces, the Soviets occupying the country north of the 38th Parallel, and the Americans south of it. After the war, neither the Koreans, Soviets, nor the Americans could agree on the country's government. This resulted in the foundation of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the south and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north (Ohn Chang-Il, 23). The fact that neither the States nor the Soviets were willing to compromise on anything was a prime factor in the separation of the Korean Peninsula.

This was the beginning of what came to be known as the Korean War; and this event was responsible for the crystallization of some of the main antagonisms that would persist throughout the Cold War (see Office of the Historian). In particular, it became clear that South Korea, supported by the United States and Europe, would belong to the Western bloc; and that North Korean, supported by the Soviet Union and Communist China, would belong to the Eastern bloc. This distinction would thereafter become far more important within the context of the modern world than the fact that the division of the Korean peninsula was such a recent one, with no historical, cultural, or ethnological differences meaningfully marking off the people of the one nation from the people of the

During the times of the Cold War many countries around the world have were impacted but it was the so called “Forgotten war” that impacted Korea forever. The war forced ways of government and controlled the Korean nation splitting up the countries along the 39th parallel leaving the north controlled by the Soviet and the south by the USA. The border created by the fight is still there and heavily militarized to this day. It revolutionized the way both north and south korea’s way of government views leading to what they have become today. The Korean War was a major historical event for Korean affecting their culture and government systems. The Korean war has affected both Korea and the United States in positive and negative ways changing the lives of many still to this day. This essay will explain and expand on the cause of the korean war and how it has shaped both the U.S and Korean and the effect it has today.

Following the end of World War II in 1945, a conflict arose between North and South Korea, sucking in the United States into war in order to protect its influence abroad. In the article America Becomes the World's Policeman: 1950, Richard Schwartz provides an explanation of events that led to Korean reinstatement as an independent nation from Japanese rule, division, and rise to conflict. Divided at the 38th parallel, Korea split into communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Il Sung pledged to dissolve the 38th parallel uniting North and South

The Soviet’s attempt at gaining control and thus, making a new nation a communist one, can be seen when Korea was split at the 38th Parallel. The top half, North Korea turned into a communist nation, while the bottom half, South Korea, remained as a Pro-Ally nation. This caused more tension with the spread of communism and an effort from the U.S. to stop this. Throughout this fight, North Korea and South Korea territory changed constantly based on who won battles. By the end of this Korean War, more than 50,000 troops were killed and the two nations remained split near the 38th

Under Yi Sŏng-Gye’s son King Sejong, considered Korea’s greatest ruler, inventions like the rain gauge, the use of a movable type, and the birth of Korean alphabet called Hangeul, still in use today, surfaced. (Piddock, 27-28) They ruled the entire peninsula for 500 years. Then Korea was annexed by neighbors Japan in 1910. Korea continued to be under Japan until 1945 when it was liberated at the end of World War II. (“North Korea”, Culturegrams) “With the defeat of Japan in 1945, the Allies agreed to divide the Korean Peninsula between the Soviet Union and the United States at the thirty-eighth parallel as a temporary measure.” (Piddock, 30) The Soviet Union received the Northern part of Korea, and the United States the South. “.. Soviet forces closed off northern Korea at the thirty-eighth parallel and placed Korean communists in power there.” Evidently, North Korea was bound to turn communist.

After World War II, the Soviet Union tried to spread communism by occupying smaller countries and turing them into “satellite” nations (Learner 346). The Soviets succeeded in making North Korea a communist state and installed Kim Il Sung as a leader (Benson 74). The United Nations wanted to reunite Korea; however, the Soviet Union refused to hold elections for a single Korean government and work with the UN. On August 15, 1948, the southern half of Korea became officially known as the Republic of Korea. One month later, on September 9, the Northern half was named the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (Oh, Bonnie Bongwan Cho). The Soviet Union’s refusal to allow Korean elections ultimately led to the Korean split and sent the region on the path to

During the Cold war, in the 1950’s, Korea was dealing with political conflicts and tensions along the 38th parallel border. Although Korea became independent, the Soviet Union took control of North Korea while the United States took control of South Korea; dividing the country into two halves. The Korean war began after North Korea invaded South Korea by crossing the 38th parallel. As Stueck states, “...The North Korean attack was not seen as a decisive act in an ongoing civil war but as a dangerous move that threatened world peace and stability” (Stueck 82). The leaders Kim II-Sung, of North Korea, and President Syngman Rhee, of South Korea, were eager to attack each other. The leaders wanted to gain unification through the war. North Korea's

Korea was split into two countries following World War II with the northern half (North Korea) falling under a Communist domination and the southern portion (South Korea) becoming Western-oriented (Korea (North, n.d.). North Korea, officially referred to as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has a totalitarianism dictatorship as its current form of government (Korea (North, n.d.). This country initially adopted a constitution in 1942, which has been amended on multiple occasions (North Korea: Government, n.d.). Furthermore, the constitution establishes the country’s status as a socialist state that is defined as a dictatorship of people’s democracy (North Korea: Government, n.d.).

The Korean peninsula has been plagued with internal conflict for over half a century. To this day the inhabitants of this currently divided nation are on the verge of a full-fledged war. Each side anticipates hostile action from the other side of the 38th parallel that divides the peninsula. The daily tension along the line is palpable, and neither side is willing to acquiesce to the desires of its former people. Before the invasions of Japan and subsequent Korean War involvement of China, this now alienated nation was once united in a singular culture. Presently, North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and South Korea's (Republic of Korea) culture could not be further from each other. Commencing the extremist isolationism

Korea was one country under the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) and they had the same language and essential culture. But for the last 6 decades and more Korean peninsula was divided into two sides North and South along a fortified DMZ. Why did they split? What caused the division? How did that division came about? The origins of this split begins with the Japanese conquest of Korea at the end of the nineteenth century. The Japanese empire annexed Korean peninsula in 1910, but Japan was ruling the country through a puppet ruler since it’s victory in the first Sino-Japanese War in 1895. Thus Korea was Japanese colony during 1910-1945. After the end World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union rose at two super powers of the globe. With their

After World War II, two nations were split into two halves. In each instance, the US controlled one half while the Soviet Union controlled the other. Germany, after over forty years and the collapse of the Soviet Union, eventually reunified and now has the largest economy in Europe. Korea, in contrast, remains divided and the collapse of the Soviet Union has severely crippled North Korea while the U.S.-backed South Korea has flourished. Formally still at war, North Korea and South Korea seem destined to remain separated at the 38th parallel. After nearly seventy years of separation, both sides have made it known that they desire reunification. In August of 2000, the two countries signed the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration, in which both sides made promises to seek a peaceful joint reunification. However, neither side has specified how they intend to achieve it nor under whose leadership. Coupled with recent North Korean acts of aggression, the chances of the reunification of the peninsula continue to wane. Leaders in Washington, Seoul, Beijing, and Pyongyang are faced with three credible resolutions: the collapse of the North Korean political system, outright war to remove the Kim regime, or a peaceful absorption of the North by the South. That one of the three scenarios will occur is inevitable. What the U.S., China, and the Koreas must understand is that a peaceful absorption of the North by the South is vital not only for the Korean peninsula, but for the entire

Consequently, in the southern half the Republic of Korea (ROK) was established under the leadership of Syngman Rhee in May 1948 with the backing of the United States; the Soviet Union, on the other side, supported the establishment of the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea (DPRK) led by Kim Il-Sung. With the formation of two different governments in one nation, the division of Korea was now absolute. The leftist communist ideology prevailing in the north and the pro-American rightists in the south drove the country into an inevitable polarization.

Reunification between North and South Korea "In our hearts, I think we have already achieved reunification." Kim

As noted, some of the existing work refers to previous cases of reunification to analyze cost and benefit of Korean reunification. In particular, German unification is often compared with, owing to its