Korean War and American Foreign Policy - Research Paper Example

The Korean War was an armed conflict between the north and South Korea nations at a time that neither had independence. The United Nations supported the republic of Korea while the People’s Republic of china with military materials backed the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from the Soviet Union, where the main cause of the said war was the interference of foreign powers. This is following the physical division of the Korean peninsula through the commitment that the allied forces made after the Pacific War came to an end, which occurred after World War II was concluded. The interference occurred following the intervention of foreign powers in the Korean peninsula that had been ruled by the Japanese and colonized since the early 20th century in the year 1910. The United States of America foreign policy was to blame for the war since if the countries in question had not participated in attempts to bring peace to the country and liberate it, the war would not have taken place. However, there are also other forces in play towards the occurrence of the war, where the interfering nations may not have played a direct role in contributing to the Korean War. In spite of all this, the largest and primary cause of the Korean War lies in the foreign policy of the United States of America, which used the country as a means to front its ideologies and military power in an attempt to dominate the already conquered Japanese. Furthermore, in order to show the causes of the war and the following the civil war or social unrest that occurred in the 1950s, this essay explores the history of the three nations in question; the USA, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. With this in mind, the periods long before the war, but restricted to the 20th century are crucial and the moments immediately before the war. This is all in an attempt to show the impact of the United States’ foreign policy in causing and fuelling the Korean War to its extensive scale, which led to the loss of millions of both civilian and military lives. The Korean War goes by a variety of names and titles depending on the location and the level of participation by the parties in question, in the said war. In the United States, it is referred to as the “Forgotten War” due to its being overshadowed by a number of factors and the lack of recognition it faced (Lin et al 223). This is both during and after the war when the USA landed in the Korean peninsula and the public did not pay much attention to it. In the republic of Korea, it is known as “625” or “the 6-2-5 upheaval” as a means to commemorate the date that the war began on June 25 (Emagasia). Towards the north, especially in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, it is known as the “Choson war” while in China it is officially known as the “War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea” based on the pivotal role that China played in the war as shall be seen later. Before getting to the history, it is crucial to note some of the significant differences that fuelled the war between the two nations. These can be seen from the ideological perspective, in which the USA is involved with its capitalist ideologies and sense of military superiority, and the political side, which raises the issue of the cold war and some of the ideologies that the cold war had in conflict leading to the confrontation. Ideologically, three participating nations, the Soviet Union, China and North Korea; desired to annex the Korean peninsula into the communist bloc the above move can be viewed to be part of the cold war, which was a war based on ideologies between capitalism and communism between leading world powers at the time. Politically, it was based on leadership and ability to conquer the world and spread ideologies to a larger bloc, referring to communist beliefs. The Soviet Union was of the view that the Korean peninsula was a good front through which it could peddle its ideologies in the same way it had used Poland in Eastern Europe to launch itself and to capture the territory under communism. In light of this, the Soviet Union made use of North Korea as a springboard through which its campaign on communist could be pressed forth and attained through a single unified government based on the ideologies of the Soviets (Chang-Il 19). The American aspect, on this case, was a means to stop the spread of communism across the globe; thus, the participation in making agreements with the Soviet Union and occupying the South to ensure capitalism prevailed once the South was independent of all foreign powers (Day 2). This was with the beginning of the Japanese and the USA after the conclusion of the Pacific War, which saw the Japanese surrender the peninsula. The events leading to the Korean War began with the Japanese campaign to gain as much territory in Asia and beyond for its political purposes, which started in the late 19th century. The Japanese conquest began with the conquering of China by Japan, which China laid claim on Korea (BBC). Inevitably after the conclusion of the Sino-Japanese war and the Japanese winning the war, Japan took over Korea as part of its territory, which it viewed as a vantage point to rest of Asia, especially considering its proximity to Japan and China. As a result, there was intensified competition between Russia and Japan over Korea over its potential benefits to the two countries, which was even before World War I. This was followed by war between Russia and Japan since china was taken out of the picture after its defeat, which was part of the worst times that China ever faced. The Japanese attacked the Russian fleet in the Baltic Sea, and it was destroyed leading to a win for the Japanese in 1904, a year before Japan got complete control over Korea. This saw the Japanese place a resident general to control the nation prior to removing the king ruling the nation at that moment. It was after this that the Japanese considered their new subjects as inferior in spite of holding on to their land as a stronghold or gateway to the rest of Asia. Japan also regarded the country as a source of natural resources and labor, where it utilized forced labor to improve their economy and the natural resources they got from Korea to advance their war efforts. As such, Korean men were put into the Japanese military where they worked in overseas territories to the point where during the United States attack on Nagasaki, roughly 25% of those that were killed were Koreans (“Korean War” 2). The Japanese colonized Korea intensively to the point that Koreans were highly suppressed and oppressed on almost every aspect ranging from association to worship and culture. For instance, culturally they were not allowed to practice Korean shamanism, which was replaced by Shinto worship and any form of resistance against the Japanese was suppressed brutally. The Japanese aimed at wiping out the Korean culture altogether, which was done by banning the Korean language and forcing Koreans to take up Japanese names, as well as dismantling of royal Palaces (“The Japanese Colonial Period”). All this worked towards bringing all Koreans together to work against the Japanese and to recover their freedom. This implies that there was no apparent reason for the Korean War to be the result of civil war against a united front, which the Koreans put in place. In addition, it means that in spite of the conditions that the Japanese set, there is no way that the Koreans started the war against themselves. However, there was the recruitment of Korean men into the military where they were mistreated by the Japanese and, in turn, mistreated their victims both Koreans and foreigners. Therefore, all conditions were set against the Japanese by the Koreans, but not Koreans against each other; meaning that the American foreign policy through its interference set the stage for the Korean War. Despite the win by the Japanese over the Russians, the Soviet Union still had a hand in the Korean war of the 1950s. This is following the behind the scenes role they played after the liberation of the peninsular from the Japanese after the Second World War. The Soviet Union declared war on the Japanese empire by invading Manchuria after Japan was defeated the Second World War, which saw it surrender the Korean peninsula and most of its other empires (Xiang 1). This saw the powers of jurisdiction restricted to the main islands of modern day Japan and, as a result, the army of the Soviet Union occupied the northern part of the Korean peninsula and stopped at the current day border between the two countries. This is an indication of the current day division between the two Koreas, which serves to show how external interference was positive in bringing change to the peninsular by liberating Korea from Japanese rule and colonization. This was not the end of Soviet Union colonization after the role that it played in splitting Korea into nations. The Russians sold their ideologies to the northern part of the nation through their occupation, as per agreements made between the Allied powers of the Second World War and the Soviet Union. However, it should be noted that it was not part of the agreement to sell out the ideologies; the agreement was to force the Japanese out of the country and lead it to independence. In addition to the contribution of the Soviet Union, alliances between the Soviet Union and china were also part of the United States’ foreign policy that contributed to the Korean War. This is following the signing of a treaty between china and the Soviet Union to resist America and assist (North) Korea, which was also part of the cold war between the USA and the Soviet Union (Jian 5). Considering china was a communist state, it worked hand in hand with the Soviet Union to save North Korea from interference by the USA in the years just before the war broke out by the Soviet Union referring North Korea to china for support. In this case, the Chinese entered the war on the side of North Korea in an attempt to force the Allied Forces and the South Korean troops off their country to the north. There are events that led to the war, other than all that has been discussed so far, for instance, just before it occurred the USA used the Korean peninsula as a front to execute aspects of the cold war, which had been in existence since the mid to late 1940s (Radia 1). Considering it was the period of the cold war the USA applied the foreign policy based on containment, which was written by George Kennan and Mark Holton depicting Soviets as an aggressive, anti-western power that needed to be contained (Jervis 564). This policy led originally to the outbreak of the arms race between the USA and the Soviet Union and ultimately to the cold war that lasted over three decades. The containment policy directly led to the failure of the USA to recognize differences between communist and capitalist nations and, as a result, interfered with many conflicts, all in an attempt to preserve and look after its offshore interests. This is the reason it was involved in the Korean and Vietnam wars, and especially the Korean War, which is in question here. On a political front, The USA and its intent to prove its power over the rest of the world by defeating Japan in the Pacific war. As a result, it aimed at removing Japan from the Korean peninsula; thus, it got into an agreement with the soviets despite its policy, which in this case, the agreement was a form of sharing their influence over the world. This occurred by having the soviets occupy the north while the USA occupied the south after the Japanese surrendered and withdrew their troops. The Americans created a borderline between the two countries based on the extent of communist ideologies and the features that the USA wanted the South to have, such as two ports. The political division done by the USA marked differences between the two countries, such that reunion to be one country would be difficult as the Soviet Union ruled the north using communist policies that North Koreans readily accepted under their leader Kim 11 Sung (Weathersby 25). On the other hand, the USA ruled the south under the capitalist policy, which was readily accepted by the southerners. The division of Korea as a whole country between the Soviet and the Americans was purely for military purposes, which was part of the American foreign policy in containment where it sought to protect its interest. This is because the USA also viewed Korea as a strategic point in Asia such that it could not allow the soviets to take it all as it would see the rise of communism, as China was also communist. The USA’s foreign policy also contributed to the Korean War owing to the passage of United Nations resolutions to assist South Korea (“The United Nations and the Korean War”). The attempts by the USA to implement its containment policy towards the Soviet Union saw further breakdown in the links between the north and the South, as there were allied forces willing to assist the south in order to overcome the aggression of the north. The American desire to win led to the progression of the war despite pulling out just before the war started, as they wanted to save face. Furthermore, their pull out after the south elected democratic elections left the south poorly equipped concerning their military capabilities; thus, the invasion by the north was not difficult. The standoff between the North and the South escalated further following the desire by both countries to unify using different ideologies (that is communism and capitalism). The impact of the above; was the intervention of allied forces that had helped bring Japan down and other interested parties willing to help the USA preserve its interests and win over the soviets. At this point, since it was the two Korean states, which were fighting against one another, it may appear as a form of civil war based on different social and governance beliefs. The division of the country was against the wish of most Koreans, but the USA proceeded anyway under the pretext of what Harry Truman termed as “police action” (Vance 1). In addition, the reason that USA interfered in the Korean War was not only because of the same foreign policy, but also under a different reason concerning the Soviets. This is following the perception of the cold war as a threat to the rest of the capitalist world; a problem that Truman viewed needed a solution lest an outbreak of a third world war occurred (Carter 294). When studies all angles that involve the Russians, the Chinese and the Japanese, as well as the international community, all reasons for the Korean War were because of the foreign policy of the USA following the role that all the conflicts faced by the USA had in shaping the world. In conclusion, the Korean War was as a result of American, foreign policy, where they interfered in almost every aspect of the running of the world; concerning the social and political aspects of global life, as well as a power play between different world powers. In this way, the United Nations was used as front to further its ambitions and goals, which is seen using containment policy to protect its foreign interests, in which case it interfered with the running of Korea. Although it was a positive thing to have liberated the country from Japanese rule, it disregarded the wishes of the people that were directly concerned, Koreans, and went ahead to split the country into two. As a result, the Korean War broke out leading to further divisions and hostilities between once peaceful nations that lived together in peace and shared a lot in common, ranging from language to culture. Works cited “Korean War”. n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. < http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Korean-War.pdf> Day, Mr. Events of the Korean War. 2001. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. < http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/gcselinks/modern/Cold_War/koreanwar.pdf> Jervis, Robert. The Impact of the Korean War on the Cold War. 1980. 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