Events of Korean War

• Who occupied the Korean Peninsula during World War II?

  Japan
• Where was Korea divide a long after World War II?

  38th Parallel
• Who occupied North Korea?

  Soviet Union
• Who occupied South Korea?

  Americans
• Who was elected president of the Republic of South Korea?

  Syngman Rhee
• Who was made leader of the People’s Republic of North Korea?

  Kim Il-sung
• How many Koreans were killed in border conflicts before the start of the Korean War in 1950?

  38,000
• When did the Korean War start?

  The Korean War started on June 25, 1950.
• Who invaded who?

  North invaded South
• What did the United Nations vote to do?

  Send international fighting force
• Who was abstaining from the UN?

  Soviet Union
• Who did President Truman choose to command UN forces?

  MacArthur
• Where were UN forces quickly pushed back to?

  South east edge of the country - Pusan Perimeter
• What did UN forces do at Inchon?

  Amphibian landing - surprise attack
• What did Truman then agreed to do after the surprise attack ?

  Invade North Korea
• Where had UN forces advanced to by November 1950?

  Yalu River (Chinese border)
• What happened on the 25th of November 1950?


  Korean War: Chinese forces launch a massive counterattack in the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River.
• What did General MacArthur demand in 1951?

  Full-scale invasion of China
• How did Truman respond to General MacArthur‘s demand on 11th of April 1951?


  He fires MacArthur
• What happened to the conflict by the summer 1951?

  Bloody quagmire - stalemate bogged down
• What negotiations started in 1951?

  Peace negotiations
• How long did peace negotiations drag on for?

  2 years
• How many casualties did the USA suffer by the end of the Korean War?

  157,000
• What happened in July 1953?

  There is a breakthrough with a signed armistice agreement
• What separates North and South Korea?

  Korean Demilitarised Zone - 2.5 mile
• What has happened ever since and up to the present day?

  They have monitored each other’s presences

  The war technically continues

  both Koreas observe each other, and there’s tension at the border
• The Truman doctrine, 1947, committed the USA to containing communism. Truman had to act in accordance with his own philosophy to not be seen as a hypocrite.
• The USA had support in the UN from Britain and France, who had their own problems of communists in their Southeast Asian empires
• The two occupying powers wanted to shape Korea in accordance with their own ideology - Soviets installed the communist Kim Il Sung as leader of North Korea
• The Americans installed anti-Communist Syngman Rhee as leader of South Korea
• Both leaders of Korea wanted to unite the entire Korean Peninsula
• June 1950, North Korea launched a full-scale attack on South Korea. Truman felt that he had to respond because South Korea was an anti-Communist state that the US had helped to create.
• US policymakers wrongly thought that Kim Il Sung had been directed to invade South Korea by Moscow. The crossing of the 38th parallel was seen as a clear instance of Soviet expansion, and seemed to confirm the findings of NSC 68.
• If the USA did nothing, important neighbouring states, such as Japan could fall to Soviet communism. This was known as a domino theory.
• Truman viewed the events in South Korea as a test of American credibility and ability to resist communism - if they failed, this would lead to a loss of confidence in America from the Japanese and Europeans, as well as at home, amongst the American public
• Truman and democrats were blamed for 'loss' of China to communism. Republicans attacked them as being weak in confronting communism and there were accusations by Republicans e.g. Joseph McCarthy said there were communist sympathisers in the State Department.
• The UN approved an American sponsored Security Council resolution, asking for action against North Korea because the Soviet union refused to accept and Security Council meetings in protest over American refusal to accept newly Communist China as a permanent member.
• Truman felt that the North Koreans were testing the resolve of the United Nations. He believed that any failure to support the UN in opposing North Korea could encourage future aggressors, which could result in World War three.
• Korea had been invaded and occupied by the Japanese during WW2. After the war the Soviet Union and the USA occupied the Korean Peninsula either side of the 38th parallel. The Americans had already had a presence in Korea before the war broke out.
• There were congressional elections on November 1950. Any weakness from the Truman administration with regards to Korea could affect these election results.