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Korea (Part 2 of 3)

Why are we so deeply involved in Korea? This was my original question. Considering the talk of nuclear war, I think we ought to know why we are even there.

Moving forth from my last blog entry, the Russians (referred to as the Soviet Union during the WWII era) realizing Japan was to lose, rushed right in and occupied the northern portion of Korea while the U.S. established control over the southern portion. I will give you one guess as to who provided the North Koreans the knowledge necessary to develop their nuclear capability.

This unofficial division of Korea (North and South) took place after the surrender of Japan. As we had previously mentioned, Japan occupied Korea up until the war and lost control over it in conjunction with suing for peace with the Allies. Japan leaving Korea left a huge vacuum of power within Korea which the Allies (under Roosevelt, Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek and Stalin) attempted to resolve unsuccessfully.

A trusteeship was established to look over Korean affairs until fair elections could be held. The cold war began and intensified during this period thus making it impossible for the Allies to come together in agreement regarding Korea and its future government.

In spite of this, the U.S. moved ahead encouraging South Korea to hold elections, which they did and the North/South Division of the country became etched in stone.

Remembering that the Koreans desperately wish to be independent and want their entire country to be united helps us understand why the Korean War began.

The 1950's Korean war was an effort by the North Koreans to reunify the country under their control. Objecting to the North Korean kind of political control, the South Koreans responded (with U.S. help) to the call of war and pushed the North Koreans up to the Chinese border. The Chinese decided it was not in their best interests to allow that to happen and joined the fight. At which time the Chinese successfully pushed the South Koreans (and the US military) back to where the war began, ultimately forcing an armistice to end hostilities along with keeping Korea divided.

More to follow tomorrow with my 3rd and final (for now) blog entry regarding this issue. PLUS, based upon what I have learned, my assessment as to where we should go from here.


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