Overview

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Overview of Korean War
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• Korea was a Japanese colony during WWII
• When Japan lost the war, Russian and American
  troops liberated Korea
• The Russians and Americans decided that Korea
  should be divided at the 38th parallel in 1945

North Korea
38th parallel
South Korea
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• Puppet Governments
• The U.S. administered the South and put an
  anti-communist, pro-American leader in charge
• The USSR administered the North and put a
  Communist leader in charge
• Russians and Americans withdrew troops from this
  area in 1948 and 1949

Question What is a puppet government?
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• In 1949 China became Communist. Why is this fact
  important to Korea?
• Important to the U.S.?

North Korea
South Korea
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• Both Northern and Southern leaders wanted to
  unite the country but with different types of
  government.
• Kim Il Sung (North Korean leader) understood that
  to resolve the problem of unifying the two Koreas
  was very difficult -- that he would need help. Of
  course the help he was hoping to get would come
  from the Soviet Union.

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Attack!!!

• 1950- NK invaded SK with 90,000 troops equipped
  with Soviet weapons tanks
• Afraid that Korea would fall to Communism like
  China, the U.S. began to rush in troops.
• The U.S. brought the Korean situation up with
  the U.N.
• The Russians were boycotting the U.N, so the U.S.
  convinced the UN to authorize a police action
  to help the South Koreans.
• About 90 of troops were American

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President Truman "Korea is a small country,
thousands of miles away. But what is happening
there is important to every American. The fact
that communist forces have invaded Korea is a
warning that there may be similar acts of
aggression in other parts of the world ..."
Why American Involvement?
The U.S. led UN forces pushed the North Koreans
back to the 38th parallel and then kept going.
They pushed all the way to the border of China
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Humiliation for the U.S.

• American General MacArthur promised that the
  Chinese knew better than to mess with him
• U.S. has atom bomb
• China attacked!
• U.S. forces turned and fled ? a route

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• Interview Lt. Col. Charles Bussey, U.S. Army
• "It was a rout exactly like the one that Napoleon
  faced leaving Russia. We ran head-long,
  helter-skelter, pell-mell, trying to get to
  Pusan, trying to get back to Japan. It was
  disgusting."

10
WWIII?

• MacArthur Advised Use of the Atom Bomb
• Truman refused
• MacArthur went public with his disagreement
• Truman Fired MacArthur

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End of the Korean War

• The Americans eventually stopped the Chinese
  advance
• After several more years of inconclusive fighting
  back and forth, a cease fire was signed.
• Signed in 1953, it declared the 38th parallel
  once again as the break between the two
  countries.

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Significance

• Reflects new American foreign policy of
  containment
• Limited warfare (did not use atomic bomb)
• Integrated Armed forces
• Begin to see a dramatic increase in military
  spending permanent mobilization
• To this day, North South Korea remain divided.
• The U.S. has no formal diplomatic relationship
  with North Korea.

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• The Cold War had become a Hot War

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• Permanent mobilization (American troops/military
  bases around the world 2007)

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• If you went to the 38th Parallel in Korea today,
  you would find a DMZ or
  de-militarized zone
• To this day, there is no formal peace treaty
  ending the Korean War.
• In fact, the U.S. has no formal diplomatic
  relationship with North Korea.

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Today- North Korea is communist but it is run
by KIM Chong-il (the son of KIM Il-song, who died
in 1994. Kim Chong-il rules with almost total
power and is more of a totalitarian than a
Communist.
Kim Chong-Il
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• In December 2002, North Korea repudiated a 1994
  agreement that shut down its nuclear reactors and
  expelled UN monitors, further raising fears it
  would produce nuclear weapons.

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Interesting Tidbit

• After the armistice, 50,000 communist POWs were
  released approximately two-thirds of the Chinese
  asked to go to Taiwan. Of 12,000 U.N. prisoners
  released by North Korea, 21 U.S. prisoners and
  one Scot chose to stay in China.
• How do you think this information was used by the
  U.S.?