Why Did The Us Invade South Korea

The Korean War occurred from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953 when armistice was signed. (Stokesbury) It was between Republic of Korea and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. United Nations were on the South Korea side and China and Soviet Union were at North Korea side. North Korea invaded South Korea after United States’ military evacuation. North Korea occupied most of South Korea, but after Incheon Landing, it turned the tide of the war. Finally, the war ended by declaring ceasefire and made Military Demarcation Line. The war was significant because it was the war between democratic and communist countries. It was also the time of Cold War when Soviet Union and United States were having political and diplomatic conflicts

On December 7, 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It became clear to the U.S. that Japan was a threat and was an enemy so thus began the war between the two. When Japan had finally collapsed in 1945 the Soviet Union troops accepted Japan’s surrender north of the 38th parallel line on the Korean peninsula as the U.S. troops also had done south of it. But after World War II ended; just as Vietnam was, it left Korea split into two separate political groups, with the communist North Korea which was led by a man named Kim Il Sung and the anti-communist South Korea being led by its leader Syngman Rhee. The two territorial groups often fought against each other but the conflicts between the two rarely resulted to outbursts of attack to each other. So, even though they were at odds the two were supposed to reunite with each other as the United Nations had previously planned and thought out. Sung and Rhee were nationalists and meant to bring Korea together upon their two sides but to no avail since they both had a completely distinct ideology on what was best for their country. It was merely a civil war only between North and South Korea until the war itself went international, with the United Nations under the leadership and orders of the United States decided to aid South Korea and with the PRC

The Soviets and Americans were unable to decide on who got the control over what part of the joint trusteeship over Korea, thus leading to the start of the Korean War (Source C.) From 1910 to the end of WWII Korea was being ruled by the Japanese and were ready to have control over themselves. The Korean War was fought from 1950 to 1953, where the North was being occupied by the Soviets and the South by the Americans. Kim thought that the only way to reunify Korea was with the use of military forces. In 1945 Korea was divided on the 38th parallel which was the main cause for going to war. In June of 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, which was considered the first act of the “Cold War”.

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.

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 the end of World War Two, Korea was divided into two sections. These sections were labeled as South Korea and North Korea. The dividing point was at the 38th parallel. Soviets occupied North Korea, and the U.S. troops occupied South Korea. The United States had troops there to keep the peace, so to say.

The 38th Parallel divided North and South Korea and was established by the United States and the Soviet Union on August 10, 1945. The parallel divided into communist North Korea and anti-communist South Korea. Japanese troops that were north of the parallel line would be obligated to surrender to the Soviet troops while the troops in the south would have to surrender to the Americans.

"The United States Enters the Korean War: June 27, 1950." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History, edited by Jennifer Stock, vol. 6: North America, Gale, 2014. U.S. History in Context, http://libraries.state.ma.us/login?gwurl=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/HJIITM449462747/UHIC?u=mlin_w_minnech&xid=3fc8c43a. Accessed 13 Dec. 2017.

After World War II, the US, Britain, and USSR decided that the Koreas should become two separate countries. However, the Koreas wanted to unite into one country. North Korea surprised South Korea by attacking at dawn on June 25, 1950. The war continued to escalate and the US sent in an army to help South Korea. During this time, Eisenhower helped negotiate a seemingly never ending armistice in the Korean war only six months into his presidency. The Korean War never truly come to an end, no live rounds have been fired but the tensions still permeate society.

The Korean War was a much bigger conflict than most of us living in the United States know. The US fought in the war for three years, but the war started in 1910, 40 years before the US joined, and is still going on today in Korea. One of the main issues with the Korean War was that the Americans tried to fight it in order to establish a new system over one that had been in place for millennia before that. The United States did not really understand the background of the war, which had been brewing for 40 years before the United States stepped in. The problem with this was that the Koreans already had an established government and way of life that had been in place for centuries, but the United States wanted to turn the country into a democracy and a colony.

President Truman and President Eisenhower had a crucial impact on America and the fate of Korea during the Korean War. The Korean War started on June 25, 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea and ended on July 27, 1953, when the armistice was signed. It was fought between North Korea, who were under the Soviet Union influence of communism, and South Korea, who were under American influence of democracy. Both sides wanted to be the supreme leader of Korea. President Truman’s decision to join the Korean War had a huge cost on America and was the first real decision for the United Nations (UN). Because of how President Eisenhower decided to end the war, with an armistice, North and South Korea are still separated and without resolving the conflict. The impact of the war and of not having

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when 75,000 North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) troops moved across the 38th parallel. Later that same day the United Nations demanded that North Korea withdrawal its forces and return to its borders. Kim Il Sung disregarded this and ordered his troops to press forward and by June 29, 1950, the capital of south Korean fell to the NKPA.

August 15, 1945, the Second World War ended with Japan’s unconditional surrender, however, the world did not restore peace. US-led Capitalist Camp and Soviet Union-led Communist Camp started the confrontation after the Second World War. People named the confrontation of Cold War. During the Cold War, few large-scale wars and armed conflicts still broke out although people call it Cold War then the Korea War is one of these wars.

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.

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.