Korean War Issues - Research Paper Example

? Korean War World War II divided Korea into a northern half, which was communist and American-occupied non-communist Southern half. The United States in the South along with the occupation of the North by the Soviet Union disturbed the attempts of the Koreans to create an autonomous government (Richardson & Maurer, p. 43). During November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly implemented a resolution that demanded a general election in the control of the UN Commission. Nonetheless, the Soviet Union declined to act in accordance with the UN resolution and disallowed the UN Commission entrance to the northern region of Korea. The UN Assembly implemented a fresh resolution demanded elections in regions reachable by the UN Commission (Cumings, p. 56). The first elections in Korea took place in May 1948. A Communist rule was set up in the North under Kim Il-sung, a Stalinist leader with total authority. During the year 1949, both Russia, as well as the United States pulled their troops out, leaving behind them the respective armed forces of the North, an influential North Korean Soviet-trained territorial army, and in the South, a less significant, feeble Republic of Korea (ROK) defense force. Stalin, concerned about the growth of Soviet Communism, notices enormous opportunities within Asia as well as the Pacific, with the arrival of the initial Soviet nuclear test during the year 1949, he observed that he could almost immediately confront the United States. However, he rejected the North Korean leaders’ tries to form an armed forces coalition with Russia. One more blunder, this time on the part of the Americans was the declarations by the then Secretary of State, Dean Acthinson that the Korean peninsula was inside the security border of the United States. This echoed all over the communist world, and probably added an immense deal to Stalin's motive for offering his support to a North Korean assault on South Korea. With Communism reaching all over the Pacific, the British as well as French both struggling to maintain power of their colonies within the region - the French in Vietnam and the British in Malaya. Stalin gave his support to the North Korean assault reliant on the Chinese support. However, the North Korea leader gave Stalin the idea that the warfare would not exceed thirty days. In the meantime, General McArthur (Halberstam, p. 341), in Tokyo watching over the reconstruction of Japan, discounted the information that North Korean may attack. He was busy finalizing his points for the forthcoming Japanese peace accord (Halberstam, p. 341). On the other hand, North Korea failed to inform China of its objective and China was getting ready to attack Taiwan at the time. CIA Intelligence news of an approaching assault went unnoticed (Halberstam, p. 341). The Korean War (1950-1953) started when the North Korean Communist military forces attacked non-Communist South Korea. The United States came to South Korea's help. General Douglas MacArthur, who had been supervising the post World War II occupation of Japan, ordered the US military forces, which now started to refrain the North Koreans at Pusan, at the Southernmost point of Korea. Even though Korea was not tactically crucial to the United States, the political atmosphere at this phase of the Cold War was such that politicians did not like to appear flexible about Communism (Richardson & Maurer, p. 83). Supposedly, the US interfered as component of a law enforcement act, run by a UN (United Nations) international peacekeeping force; in reality, the anti-Communist interests of NATO and US influences the UN. The United Nations, mainly the United States, came to the help of South Korea in preventing the raid. A quick UN counter-offensive drove the North Koreans ahead of the 38th Parallel and nearly to the Yalu River, and the People's Republic of China joined the war on the side of the North. The Chinese initiated a counter-offensive that pressed the United Nations military back behind the 38th Parallel. The Soviet Union significantly helped the North Korean as well as Chinese armies (Richardson & Maurer, p. 28). The Communist North Koreans movement to join the nation forcibly demolished the whole territory, leaving millions of people homeless. Both sides signed a cease-fire during July 1959 and gone through massive alterations in their attempts at rehabilitation. Reunification continues to be the long awaited but intangible objective of all Koreans on both regions of the watchfully guarded Military Demarcation Line. The collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe along with the association of Germany created hopes in Korea that the unification is not in very distant future. Recent years bring a little improvement in encouraging confidence as well as collaboration between the two halves of the peninsula. Nonetheless, the risk of North Korea's alleged nuclear arsenal expansion plan has stood in the way of actual forward movement, and there is still a lengthy rough path before the projected “Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization” (KEDO) venture for the creation of lightwater nuclear reactors gets on track in the North and other North Korean nuclear concerns are entirely resolved (Cumings, p. 147). Effect of Korean War on US There were quite a lot of fatalities on both sides. Possibly as many as 4 million Koreans died all through the peninsula, two-thirds of them were civilians. This evaluates, for instance, with the 2.3 million Japanese who deceased in World War II. China lost more or less 1 million soldiers, and the US endured 36,934 deceased in addition to 103,284 injured. Other UN countries endured 3322 dead in addition to 11,949 injured. The Korean War produced more hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union. The war revealed the motivation of the United States to do whatever feasible to put a stop to the propagation of communism. A sentiment of antagonism developed between China and the United States that would last for decades (Richardson & Maurer, p. 73). Families lost many relatives on either regions of the border. This war generated a panic in the United States of the consequences of communism. The United States interfered in Vietnam to stay away from another North Korea. South Korea turns out to be a significant United States armed forces base with thousands of American troops positioned there. The Korean War never finished. The lack of ability of the two sides to resolve their differences has indicated that the two Koreas as well as their partners have had to stay on a clash ready situation next to the border ever since. The Korean War was a motivating power behind incorporation attempts all through the early years of the civil rights movement. President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order putting together the military forces during 1948, something that his Commission on Civil Rights suggested; however, it was the Korean War that assisted in really setting off that incorporation. By the end of the Korean War, the armed forces were the most incorporated as well as ethnically advanced institution in the United States; if for no other cause, this piece of information single-handedly makes the Korean War one of the most vital arguments United States ever occupied in (Varhola, p, 92). The Korean War was one of the most disparaging and brought economic as well as societal harm to Korea. On the other hand, the Korean War was able to improve the economy of both Japan, as well as the US. Moreover, the Korean War legitimized the United Nations and brings about more growth of armed forces. The Korean War as well demonstrated the rising anti-communist sentiment all over the US. The Korean War brought both constructive as well as unconstructive outcomes to the world (Richardson & Maurer, p. 195). Korean War was as well accountable for setting up America’s chain of armed forces bases all over the world and its huge defense and intelligence coordination at home. Works Cited Cumings, B. The Korean War: A History. Modern Library, 2010. Halberstam, D. The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War. Hyperion, 2007. Richardson, B. and Maurer, K. Valleys of Death: A Memoir of the Korean War. Berkley, 2010. Varhola, Michael J. Fire and Ice: The Korean War, 1950-1953. Da Capo Press, 2000. Read More