The Korean War

1
The Korean War

• The Forgotten War

2
Background

• 1895 Korea taken from China by Japan
• Cairo Conference 1943, Allies agree that when
  liberated, it would become independent.
• Aug. 12, 1945 Soviets enter Korea and push south
  to the 38th.
• American occupy the south.
• This was to only be temporary.

3
Background

• The UN requested Elections be held.
• South Natl Assembly formed electing
  anti-communist Syngman Rhee
• North No elections, taken over by communist Kim
  Il Sung

Syngman Rhee
4
Background

• The de facto partition had become permanent.
  However, both governments claimed authority over
  the whole country, and each threatened to unify
  Korea by force.

Kim Il Sung
5
Background

• Soviets withdrew forces in Dec. 48. Americans
  in June 49
• But, both powers armed their own client state
  with weapons.
• Two elements 1. Civil, 2. Proxy Cold War

6
The Causes of the Korean War

• "Communism in Korea could get off to a better
  start than practically anywhere else in the
  world."
• Edwin W. Pauley, Truman's ambassador
  investigating reparations, traveling in the
  Russian zone of Korea in June 1946

7
Causes of the War

• 1. Btwn Oct. 49 and June 50, several thousand
  soldiers killed in border incidents along 38th.
• 2. US Sec. of State Dean Acheson outlined US
  policy, it failed to mention S. Korea and Taiwan
  as part of US Sphere of Influence (The Green
  Light to NK)
• 3. June 25, 1950, N. Kor. Invaded south of the
  38th
• 4. Sov. Boycott UN Security Council over Taiwan
  issue, unable to veto UN action

8
Two Views on Invasion

• Kim was acting on Stalins orders. Why?
• 1. To keep Kim dependent upon the USSR.
• 2. Create a diversion for the US away from Euro.

• There was no unusual invasion. The US said
  there was. Why? To take advantage of USSRs
  boycott of UN. US baited Kim into the attack.

9
Khrushchevs Memoirs

• Stalin approved the invasion, although possibly
  without considering fully the consequences.
• However most likely, Kim acted independently in
  pursuit of the goal of unification of Korea as a
  communist state.
• Stalin was aware of UN boycott and the
  consequences and would not have agreed to the
  invasion.

10
The Course of the War

• "I will defend Korea as I would my own
  countryjust as I would California."
• Gen. Douglas MacArthur to Dr. Syngman Rhee,
  President of the two-month-old South Korean
  Republic, October 1948

"In my generation, this was not the first
occasion when the strong had attacked the
weak.Communism was acting in Korea just as
Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese had acted
ten, fifteen, and twenty years earlier. I felt
certain that if South Korea was allowed to fall,
Communist leaders would be emboldened to override
nations closer to our own shores." President
Harry Truman
11
The Course of the War

• UN/US forces would be solely for the purpose of
  restoring the Republic of Korea to its status
  prior to the invasion from the North So a war
  of containment-Truman Doctrine! 14 other
  countries would send troops under the command of
  Gen. Douglas MacArthur

12
S. Kor army and 4 US divisions driven south and
only control the area around Pusan. Sept.,
MacArthur makes a surprise amphibious landing at
Inchon. N Kor army found itself trapped by two
armies and forced to retreat. By the end of
Sept. Seoul liberated and the South secured.
13
The Course of the War

• China Reacts PM Zhou Enlai warned that if the
  US went on to invade the North, China would go to
  its aid! Truman called his bluff. He wished
  to est. a US dominated Kor as a foothold on the
  Asian landmass. Thus, he had changed the stated
  purpose of the US involvement from containment to
  Rollback.

14
The Course of the War

• By the end of Oct. US forces captured Pyongyang,
  and in some places reached as far N as the Yalu
  R.
• Chinese Reaction
• Feared US backed attack by Chinese Natl
• MacArthur expressed desire to invade China
• Wished to keep N. Kor as a buffer

15
The Course of the War

• 300,000 Chinese volunteers from the Peoples
  Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the border and
  drove the US army back beyond the 38th.
  Pyongyang and Seoul was captured by the Chinese.
  
• Truman changed plans and settles for containent.
• MacArthur criticized Trumans Limited War and
  called for an all out attack upon Red China. He
  demanded the authority to blockade China and bomb
  Manchuria with atomic weapons!
• MacArthur called limited war a form of
  appeasement.
• Truman dismisses MacArthur of his duties and
  replaces him with Gen. Matthew Ridgway

16
(No Transcript)
17
The Course of the War

• In the South Rhee
• Imposed martial law
• Arrested opposition deputies in the National
  Assembly
• Imposed a Right Wing dictatorship

• A Chinese offensive failed in June 1951. They
  sought an armistice in July 51. But dragged on
  for months.
• Both sides sought to improve its position. The
  focus on The exact demarcation line and
  repatriation of POWs

"Even now, I feel guilty that I pulled the
trigger." Lee Joon-Young, 83, who in 1950 was
one of the South Korean executioners ordered to
murder dissidents by the Syngman Rhee government
to keep them from possibly joining up with the
invading North Korean army
18

• Newly elected D.D. Eisenhower after himself
  threatened to use Nuclear attack, signed
  armistice on July 27th, 1953
• Armies to separate by a DMZ
• Restore the status quo ante bellum- 38th
  Parallel.
• POWs would be exchanged

19
The Consequences of the War
20
The Consequences of the War

• Deaths _at_ 2.9 mil total
• 1.3 mil S. Kor
• 1 mil Chinese
• 500K N. Kor
• 54K US
• 4500 Allies

Destruction 5 mil Koreans homeless. S. Kor
industrial infrastructure damaged, N. Kor was
devastated due US bombing.
21
The Consequences of the War

• The war failed to resolve the division of Korea.
  Still a Hot Spot today.
• Increases Sino-American hostilities.
• UN saved face for League of Nations failures in
  Manchuria in 1931.
• Est. a precedent for US intervention in Asia to
  contain communist expansion
• Increased US Paranoia of Communism at home-
  McCarthyism.
• No more limited wars under Ike. Massive
  Retaliation policy
• Both Koreas arm themselves using precious
  resources needed to feed their people

22
The Consequences of the War

• Scarce Chinese resources diverted to the war.
• Poisoned Sino-Soviet Relations.
• Stimulated US economy as well as Japans
• N. Kor turned in upon itself and became a
  defensive totalitarian state, a corrupt right
  wing dictatorship.
• China gained prestige on world stage for going
  toe to toe with the US.
• SEATO formed South East Asia Treaty
  Organization. To contain China and N Kor. A
  failure

23
The Significance of the War

• This was a Nasty War
• Both sides tortured POWs
• US used POWs as guinea pigs to test effects of
  germ warfare.
• Indiscriminate bombing of civilians.
• US used biological warfare by dropping anthrax,
  the plague, and other diseases on N Kor and
  China.
• US prepared to use any means necessary to save
  its sphere of influence.

• A Civil War- goal was to unify Korea.
• A Proxy War ideological opposition supported by
  super powers.
• Third World enters the Cold War. Pressure for
  developing nations to pick sides.