Korean War (1950-1953)

Running head Essay 0
Korean war (1950-1953)

Essay
1
Korean War, a war in South Korea (SK) and North Korea (NK) started on 25 th June
1950, it happened when NK attacked SK and it lasted till July 27, 1953. It was a disaster for
both the countries and took place in the Korean peninsula. In the beginning, the war took
place in South Korea (SK) and then later in North Korea (NK). The small scale war converted
into an international conflict. At the beginning of the war, North Korean leaders believed that
the military of South Korea would not be able to fight with them as they were very weak. It
happened when around 75000 soldiers of North Korea Communist go across the border
through the 38th parallel and they attacked non-communist South Korea1. Many battles
happened during the war all around Korea from Pusan in the south and Pyongyang in the
north.
Korea was a united country when it was ruled by the Japanese but the Japanese never
treated them well. After that, it was separated when Japan surrendered and it led to the
division of Korea. The Separation of Korea began when World War II ended. The war
between Korea has been said as forgotten war also because it happened before the Vietnam
War and after World War II2. In the beginning it was observed that small Korea would not be
able to solve any problem by itself because it was surrounded by so many small neighbors.
Hence in order to dominate the country Americans developed the plans and kept it secret for
the outbreak of the war on the peninsula to allow the ideas of socialism and communism to
labeling them in aggressive. After few months American troops arrived in the war on behalf
of SK and to help the North Korean, China and the USSR were involved in the war. In war,
millions of people were killed and it destroyed a lot of cities and the farmlands. When the war
ended in 1953 Korea was still separated into two hostile states. Almost 16 Nations were
involved in fighting with the opposite states troops and supporting their own state. In the
Korean War, not only south and North Korea were involved but with them, many other
countries were also involved who had their political interests and issues3.
1 McFarland, K. (2009). The Korean War: An Annotated Bibliography. Routledge.
2 Kim, D. C. (2004). Forgotten war, forgotten massacres—the Korean War (1950–1953) as licensed mass killings. Journal of
Genocide Research, 6(4), 523-544.
3 Stueck, W. (1997). The Korean War. an international history, 68.

Essay
2
In war, North Korea tried to capture the Seoul two times which is the capital of South
Korea where Chinese troops attacked from the 38th parallel but the communist's supply was
not that enough and because of that they were not able to tolerate the occurrence for the long
run. But UN troops made this a failure for North Korea. Also if the Chinese army did not
intervene in the war, war could have ended in November 1950. It led nothing in between the
two states and the thing that happened in North Korea prevented communism from spreading
in the South Korea4. As such no gains were made and a number of causalities happened during
the war. In the end, both sides never won the Korean War and the fact is the war is still going
as both the states never signed a peace treaty5. Also, peace talks happened during the war
between the communists. It happens in Panmunjom where no one wants to give up on anyone
as the UN required a new border between them and North Korea needed to be at 38 th Parallel.
As discussion kept failing, and long series on negotiations between them. Talks happened for
the next two years without any conclusion. Still, the battles were taking place and the UN
tried to put more pressure on the communists.
North Korea forces were very offensive towards South Korea as they were well
equipped with the trained army and they succeeded in fighting with the South Korea army as
they were poorly trained army of the Republic of Korea. Then the president allowed and sent
the force to help South Korea (SK). During the war, the involvement of the UN is when the
United Nations counter attack to support South Korea as they entered in war with the army
forced6,
In the war, the combatants involved were SK and the US who were fighting under the
bits of help of United Nation and they were fighting against North Korea along with the china.
Also, many other nations were involved who supported with troops but most of the troops
were from America. On the other side, in support of North Korea, the Soviet Union came
forward by giving the army, tanks and the strategic advice to North Korea. But China started
sending the army to support North Korea so that the conflict will stay from their border. China
4 Selden, M., & Dong-choon, K. (2010). South Korea’s embattled truth and reconciliation commission. The Asia-Pacific
Journal, 8(9-4).
5 Millett, A. R. (2001). Introduction to the Korean War. Journal of Military History, 65(4), 921-936.
6 Chang, O. (2010). The causes of the Korean War,1950-1953. International Journal of Korean Studies, 14(2).