Source: Military.com
The Korean War was a conflict in which at least 2.5 million people died between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). When North Korea invaded the South in June 1950 with assistance from the Soviet Union, the conflict reached an international level.
The People's Republic of China offered assistance to North Korea, and the United States of America joined the war on the side of the South Koreans. The fighting ended in July 1953 with Korea still divided into two hostile states, with over a million casualties on both sides. The frontline has been accepted as the de facto border between North and South Korea since 1954.
Causes Of The Korean War
The fall of the Japanese empire at the end of World War II in September 1945 was the immediate cause of the Korean War. Korea has been part of Japan since 1910 and did not have a native government or a colonial regime waiting to return after the end of hostilities, in contrast to China, Manchuria, and the former Western colonies seized by Japan in 1941–42.
The United States and the Soviet Union agreed in August 1945 to divide the country (Korean Peninsula) for administrative purposes at the 38th parallel (latitude 38° N) in their hasty effort to disarm the Japanese army and repatriate the estimated 700,000 Japanese living in Korea. This geographical division was, at least from the American point of view, a temporary convenience; nonetheless, the Soviets started a fleeting reign of fear in northern Korea that immediately politicized the division by driving a great many exiles south.
The 38th Parallel?
Two young State Department employees cut the Korean peninsula in half in August 1945 along the 38th parallel. The United States occupied the region to its south, while the Russians occupied the region to the north of the line.
On the peninsula, two new states had emerged by the decade's end. The anti-communist dictator Syngman Rhee, who lived from 1875 to 1965, had the tacit support of the American government in the south.
The communist dictator Kim Il Sung (1912–1994) received slightly more support from the Soviet Union in the north. However, border battles were common because neither dictator was content to remain on his side of the 38th parallel. Before the war even started, battles resulted in the deaths of 10,000 North Korean and South Korean soldiers.
Although the U.S. military remained nominally in control of the South until 1948, President Harry S. Truman convinced the United Nations (UN) in 1947 to assume responsibility for Korea because both the Soviets and Americans could not agree on a formula that would result in a unified Korea.
Preparing For Invasion
By 1947, there were approximately 80,000 members of the southern security force. Kim Il-sung, on the other hand, increased his control over the Communist Party, the northern administrative structure, and the military. A group of southern Korean guerrillas based at Haeju in western Korea provided additional support to the North Korean military and police in 1948, which numbered approximately 100,000.
The Premise Of A Wa
Beginning in 1948, the United Nations adopted as a policy the establishment of an independent South Korea. This was opposed by Southern communists, and by autumn, partisan warfare had engulfed a portion of each Korean province below the 38th parallel. The battle ventured into a restricted boundary battle between the South's recently shaped Republic of Korea Armed force (ROKA) and the North's Korean People’s Army (KPA).
Kim Il-sung convinced Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the beginning of 1949 that a conventional invasion of the South was necessary. Stalin refused because he was worried about possible involvement from the United States and how unprepared the North Korean military was. The communist leadership transformed the KPA into a formidable offensive force modelled after a Soviet mechanized army over the next year.
While the Soviet Union provided the armaments, the Chinese provided infantry. In every field of technology, the North Koreans had a significant advantage over the South by 1950. Stalin authorized an invasion following a second Kim visit to Moscow in March and April 1950.
American officials were shocked and alarmed by the North Korean invasion. They believed that this was more than just a border dispute between two unstable dictatorships. Instead, a lot of people were worried that it was the first step in a communist plan to take over the world.
President Harry Truman stated, "The Soviets will keep right on going and swallow up one place after another if we let Korea down." During the Cold War, the conflict on the Korean peninsula served as a symbol of the global struggle between the West and the East, between good and evil. The United States prepared its troops for a war against communism as the North Korean army entered Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
The Offensive Strategy And Incheon Landing
From the start, the conflict was a protective one to get the socialists out of South Korea. Unlike the disciplined, well-trained, and well-equipped North Korean army, the South Korean troops were terrified, perplexed, and appeared ready to leave the battlefield at the slightest provocation.
President Truman and General Douglas MacArthur had settled on a new set of war goals by the end of the summer. Now, the Korean War has become an offensive conflict for the Allies. The goal of the war was to "liberate" the North from communist rule.
This new strategy worked well at first. The North Koreans were driven out of Seoul and back to their side of the 38th parallel by the amphibious assault known as the ‘Incheon Landing’ at Incheon.
The Chinese, on the other hand, began to worry about how to defend themselves from what they referred to as "armed aggression against Chinese territory" as American troops crossed the border and moved north toward the Yalu River, which marks the border between Communist China and North Korea. Mao Zedong, the leader of China from 1893 to 1976, sent troops to North Korea and urged the United States to avoid the Yalu border unless it wanted to start a full-scale war.
In July 1951 President Truman and his new military leaders began peace talks. Nevertheless, as negotiations stopped, fighting continued along the 38th parallel. While both sides were willing to accept a ceasefire that would keep the 38th parallel in place, they were unable to agree on whether or not prisoners of war should be “repatriated” by force. The North Koreans and Chinese agreed while the United States refused.
On July 27, 1953, the adversaries finally agreed to an armistice after more than two years of negotiations. The POWs were free to stay where they wanted thanks to the agreement, A new boundary was drawn close to the 38th parallel, expanding South Korea's territory by 1,500 square miles. And established a "demilitarized zone" that was two miles wide that still exists today.
Written by: Abderrahmane Loudiyi
Edited by: Nidhi Jha
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