The Cold War On South Korea

The Korean War, also known as the “Forgotten War” began on June 25, 1950. On that day, about 75,000 soldiers from North Korean, with the help and advice from the Soviet Union, cross the 38th parallel. The 38th parallel is “the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south” (History.com). Within three days, the North Korean People’s Army was able to capture Seoul, the capital of South Korea. This invasion marked the beginning of the Cold War. Fearing the spread of Communism, the United Nations and United States agreed to send troops to South Korea, and on the 1st of July 1950, American troops arrived to South Korea to help the democratic South Korean to fight against the North Korean communist invasion. The Americans goal was to prevent the spread of Communism.

Efforts to unify Korea resulted in more than 100,000 deaths due to guerilla warfare. In April 1950, North Korean leader Kim II Sung persuaded Joseph Stalin to back an invasion of South Korea, convincing Stalin that the United States would not intervene. Stalin agreed to provide arms, equipment, and advisors to the North Koreans (“Korean War”). Kim II Sung did not stop there as he also persuaded the newly communist Chinese to aid the North Koreans. The Korean War, (June 25,1950 – July 27, 1953), occurred when over 75,000 North Korean Army invaded the land across of the 38th parallel. American president Harry Truman was feeling heat after “letting China fall”, so Truman ordered American troops into action on South July, the United Sates entered the conflict on South Korea’s behalf. The next three years would be the darkest and most horrific in Korean history. As seen in American reporter Bill Shinn’s account, “the North Koreans were gruesome…during the occupation of South Korea, they killed over 165,000 civilians. Also, I witnessed a South Korean mass execution of civilians suspected of having helped the communists. Korea was a mess” (“The Forgotten War Remembered: Korea, 1950-1953). This shows the depths of the horror that was perpetrated in Korea for three years.

At dawn on June 25, 1950, 90,000 soldiers were sent into the Southern Republic of Korea or South Korea. These 90,000 men made up two-thirds of the 135,000 man army of North Korea. On June

Both the North Koreans and the Russians wanted to overthrow South Korea to expand their empire. Above all, Russia had a chance to oppose its economic and military rival, the United States. North Korea, armed with Soviet tanks, boats, planes, and guns, planned a surprise attack across the 38th parallel into South Korea. Late Saturday evening on June 24, 1950, president Henry Truman got a urgent phone call. Truman was informed that a well organized and many pronged invasion of South Korea by the North Koreans was under way. The U.S. was obliged to defend South Korea.7

With a total of approximately 7 million soldiers, sailors, and airmen from America fought in the Korean War, thousands of them lost their lives. But why, you may ask? Well, up until World War II, Korea has been one nation that had belonged to Japan and was known as the Korean Peninsula. After World War II, the winners of the war divided it into two countries. The northern half was ruled by the Soviet Union, while the U.S. took control of the southern half. The line that divided the country in half was called the 38th parallel. The Soviets wanted to expand the communist influence more in Korea. The United States encouraged democracy instead, but that caused an uproar. This disagreement caused Joseph Stalin to declare an invasion of South

The Korean War was an episode in the Cold War. When the Soviet Union and U.S. fought over Communism and Democracy it caused war in Korea. Most people known this war as the Forgotten War. This is because it not was not nearly important as in the national consciousness of the United States as the Second World War, the Vietnam War, or the 1991 Gulf War. One reason that the Korean War has been 'forgotten' is that, with the exception of the Inchon landing, it seems boring and featureless. History would show the United States and the Soviet Union fighting as allies during World War II, their relationship after the war should have been friendly. The United States and The Soviet Union only joined together to overthrow Japan’s control. The

The Korean War or better known as the forgotten war, was fought from 1950 to 1953. Being sandwiched between World War II and the war in Vietnam it is often overlooked. After World War II, Korea was split into a communist government in the north and a more democratic government in the south. On June 25, 1950 North Korean soldiers marched into South Korea and captured their capital, Seoul. The U.S. and the United Nations sent thousands of soldiers to defend South Korea. The Chinese backed North Korea and soon both sides were in the hills at the 38th Parallel. This imaginary line split the North from the South and the war continued in the hills from 1951 to 1953. Finally, in July of ‘53 prisoners were exchanged and the fighting stopped.

The Korean War begun on the arrival of the North Korean Army troops consisted of 750.000 soldiers at the 38th parallel- the imaginary boundary between South Korea- on une 25, 1950 (History.com Staff,2009). According to (PBS, N.D.), Korean War was the first war to provide the confrontation of nuclear powers and the war also showed how hard was the difficulty of both sides to create the right decision on when to attack using the bomb at the right time. Although it might seemed to be difficult, the attacks from Soviet Union and China on behalf of North Korea was hard to repel so that United Nation was asked to help South Korea repelled those attacks (PBS, n.d.). By the end of the brutal war that lasted 60 years there were two millions victim

The Korean War was described to be one of the main reasons how the Cold War became a global conflict in 1945. The main conflict of the Korean War was the disagreement of Communism between North and South Korea. North Korea followed Communism and wanted South Korea to be under the same type of government. As South Korea refused to have Communism in their country, it led North Korea to take action, by using violence. With the help of the Soviet Union and China helping the North, South Korea looks to the United States for aid into helping them with this conflict (Lin Lin). The United States decision to be involved in the Korean War was due to the fact it started with Communism and they wanted to prevent the influence of it from spreading.

The Korean War (1950-1953) emerged after World War II where the world powers at the time, the United States and Allies-UN Forces and the Soviet Union had conflicting visions for what the postwar world should look like. The shaping of the Korean Peninsula was first on their agendas. The Soviet Union vision was to unify Korea through the expansion of Communism, which made sense strategically with Communist China and the Soviet Union in Korea’s backyard. However, the unification of Korea would only happen via civil war. North Korea would have to invade South Korea and inflict their will by means of armed force. Conversely, as one can imagine the UN-Forces vision was to prevent the expansion of Communism and unify North and South Korea in a single country protected by the United States. (Alexander, 2013) Over a period of three years, the conflicting world powers would duke it out. North Korea would strike first by engaging in civil war and South Korea with UN Forces assistance would help stop their onslaught. Next, uninformed the UN Forces would head into North Korea on the offensive, only to be met by prepared communist forces, which leads to retreat of the UN Forces and ultimately a stalemate. (Hammel, 1981)

At the mid-point of the century that had already seen two appallingly destructive and costly World wars, just as the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States broke due to their ideological differences after World War II, in the midst of the Cold War was the Korean War. The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 when the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, a border between South and North Korea, to attack South Korea. The size of the war quickly grew as it began to involve countries like China, Soviet Union, and the United States. With nothing to show rather than early back-and-forth across the 38th parallel between the two sides, the Korean War marked its end in July 1953 with about 5 million losses of soldiers and innocent civilians during the war. Korean peninsula still divided today, one must understand how Korean War marks a significant turning point in the context of international order and relations, and the American foreign policies. During the 1950s, the Korean War was tremendously significant as it marked the first concrete war against communism as well as revealing inconsistencies in American foreign policy.

The Korean War represented a global expansion of the Cold War, but also set the limits and boundaries in which the belligerents would act, for decades to come (Judge & Langdon, 85, 99). Furthermore, the conflict in Korea was the first time in which the Cold War turned ‘hot’ (“Korea”, CNN). This violent clash of ideologies was the result of a complex series of events that began with the initiation of the Cold War.

The article "North Korea Vs. The World" still relates to the Cold War, because it explains the tension between countries, over nuclear weapons, which is similar to the tension felt during the Cold War. A supporting piece of evidence states, "National security experts say the acceleration of North Korea's nuclear program is a serious threat to the U.S. and its allies in Asia, particularly South Korea and Japan." (Zissou 1). North Korea is continuing to expand its nuclear weapons program, and is becoming an even bigger threat to many countries, including the United States. This would lead to tension between countries, because of the extremely powerful capabilities of nuclear weapons. The U.S. and its allies would not trust North Korea,

The Korean War was also a devastating even of the Cold War. This bloody war began in June of 1950 where the North Korean armed forces – who were communists - invaded South Korea – who were capitalists. The United Nations and The United States joined forces with

On June 24, 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea. A few days later the U.S. Troops got involved because president Truman ordered them to the aid of South Korea. The United States and the United Nations came to help aid South Korea, causing a bigger dispute.