Korean War
- Korea had been a Japanese colony prior to 1945 (since 1910)
- At the wars end the peninsula had been divided at the 38th parallel - between the Soviets in the North and the Americans in the South - to oversee the Japanese surrender
- Soviets cut off communications lines
- Soviets placed Kim Il-Sung as head of the Communist government (His son rules today and is considered one of the worlds worst dictators.) - he became the first president of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
- United States placed Syngman Rhee as head in South Korea - he was later elected president of the Republic of Korea (ROK)
- Soviet and American troops began to pull out
- The last American troops left at the end of June, 1949
- Were frequent border clashes between both sides into 1950
- Because the Americans had pulled out the North Koreans thought the South was their for the taking
- North Korean troops began quietly amassing along the border
- In June 25, 1950 at 4am the North Koreans artillery opened fire - about 1/2 hour later almost 80,000 troops streamed across the border
- Truman asked the U.N. Security Council to meet in an emergency session
- Council call for the North Koreans to stop
- North Korea ignored them
- The Security Council voted to send the member troops to aid in South Korea's defense
- (The Soviets were not present to cast a veto - they were boycotting over the Berlin crisis)
- Truman never asked Congress to declare war
- Troops were sent as part of a police action
- General Douglas MacArthur became the commander-in-chief for the United Nations forces
- 17 nations sent troops - another 5 nations provided medical support
- Quickly overrun by the North Korean troops
- Pushed all the way down to a small southeastern corner near Pusan
- Massive U.S. reinforcement held off a fierce series of attacks
- The United Nations forces pushed the North Koreans all the way back to the 38th parallel
- On October 1 South Korean forces crossed into North Korea
- United Nations passed a resolution for the unification of Korea
- Allowed MacArthur to send troops into North Korea
- To combat this Chinese troop crossed the Yalu River in North Korea - between October 14 and November 1, nearly 180,000 Communist Chinese troops crossed into North Korea
- On October 25, U.S. troops and the Chinese troops first clashed
- November 25 - Chinese troops smashed thought the Untied Nations lines and forced the offensive to retreat
- By December 15 the United Nations forces had been pushed back to the 38th parallel
- By April pushed the Communist forces back beyond the 38th parallel
- MacArthur was determined to push the Communists out of North Korea - direct violation of Truman's orders -(MacArthur's plans to expand the war would have been a deadly mistake.)
- MacArthur continually disobeyed Truman's orders
- Truman relieved him of command - April 11, 1951
- Replaced by General Ridgway
- April 22, 1951 - Chinese Communist Forces launched a spring offensive
- Were turned back
- U.N. chose not to push the Communists out of Korea - policy dictated a stalemate situation - it continued for the next 2 years
- Proposed a cease fire
- Major sticking point was the voluntary repartriation of prisoners
- United Nations believed some Communist troops did not want to return
- Communists insisted on all being returned - by force if necessary
- Communists did not want to lose face by them not returning
- Fall of 1952 talks were halted
- Fighting continued with fierce battles - Heartbreak Ridge - Punch Bowl - Old Baldy - Pork Chop Hill
- Americans wanted out of the fighting
- Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president - Communists know he will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons
- Stalin died March 1953 and the new leader seemed to desire and end of hostilities
- Communists accepted voluntary reparations
- Finally things could be worked out
- Armistice document signed on July 27, 1953
- Nearly 3,000,000 killed
- Estimated 1,300,000 South Koreans killed or wounded - almost 1,000,000 civilians
- Chinese losses over 900,000
- North Korean losses over 500,000
- American casualties 162,000 - 1/3 killed
- Additionally 17,000 United Nations forces from other countries were killed or wounded
- By June 1953 the concluded in an uneasy stalemate
Today the North Korean economy is in trouble
- in 1997 the government cut the rice ration for bureaucrats to 6 ounces per day - this is a starvation ration for some of the best fed people in their society - this is an old statistic but things do not seem much better today
- In spite of massive famine threatening the country the government still spends huge amounts of money on their military - even threatening the U.S. with nuclear weapons
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