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The Korean War: A Government Statement Analysis

Decent Essays

On March 30, 2013, North Korean TV channel KCNA broadcasts a government statement declaring it is entering a 'state of war' with South Korea. South Korea's defence ministry said these threats are 'unacceptable' and threaten peace. The statement came a day after the North staged a large military rally through the streets of Pyongyang. The White House warned North Korea that following Friday that military confrontation would lead to further isolation. The two Koreas have technically been at war for more than half a century, yet they have never signed a formal peace deal after the Korean war in the 1950s. National Security Council spokeswoman, Caitlin Hayden, said, "We continue to take additional measures against the North Korean threat, including …show more content…

It is apparent that the differences of political views are due to the involvement of other foreign nations. American officials and South Koreans believed North Korea fell under the influence of the Chinese Communist Party due to the Korean War and the communist party's objective to take over the United Nations.

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began as a civil war during the Cold War, between North and South Korea. The book, Rethinking the Korean War, states that the conflict would nearly start a world war and affect the relations of Communist and democratic nations.[1] The conflict soon became international when, under U.S. leadership, the United Nations joined to support South Korea and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) entered to aid North Korea.[2] The war left Korea divided and brought the Cold War to Asia. 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had …show more content…

Nearly 5 million people died. More than half of the population, about 10 percent of Korea’s prewar population, were civilians. Almost 40,000 Americans died in action in Korea, and more than 100,000 were wounded. The armistice was only a ceasefire agreement, not a formal peace treaty ending the war. A final peace treaty was supposed to be on the agenda at the Geneva Conference of 1954, but by the time that conference began, the French colonial war in Indochina took precedence. Ultimately, the United States and the ROK signed a mutual defense treaty, and U.S. troops became a part of the DMZ patrols on a semi-permanent basis. The Korean War had long-lasting consequences for the entire region. Though it failed to unify the country, the United States achieved its larger goals, including preserving and promoting NATO interests and defending Japan. The war also resulted in a divided Korea and complicated any possibility for accommodation between the United States and China. The Korean War served to encourage the U.S. Cold War policies of containment and militarization, setting the stage for the further enlargement of the U.S. defense perimeter in Asia. These Cold War policies would eventually lead the United States to regional actions that included its attempts at preventing the fall of Vietnam to

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