The Korean War

What is the Korean War?

It was a war that started after World War 2. It is now known as the forgotten war. Not many know of the Korean War. The Korean War as its name states was fought in Korea between Korea itself - North and South Korea. This war was started bacause of the different political views of the country. North Korea wanted communism and the South wanted democracy.

This political cartoon here shows the war between the two general political parties

Where did the war started?
The war stated on a strip of land known as the 38th parallel. The 38th parallel still exists today. It is a strip of land that looks like a line dividing North and South Korea. Most of the war took place here and the war also ended there.

This map shows the 38th parallel


Why did the war start?
The Korean war was a war that took place between communist and non-communist party also known as democrats. This war rages on from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. It was a war that involved help from other countries. North Korea is the communist side and South Korea was the democratic side. Korea had two rival parties established in 1948. One rival party was known as Republic of Korea. This was a democratic party. The other party was known as the People's Democratic Republic of Korea in the north. This was a communist party. Relations between the two parties were always strained. Both did not have the same set of political ideals. Both did not have the same goals in mind. On June 25, 1950, North Korea began to invade South Korea.

The United Nations then noted this act of aggression and sent a warning to North Korea. North Korea did not heed to the warning and therefore the United Nations requested aid from the members.

America, one of the United Nations members acted accordingly. On June 27, two days after the attack from the North Koreans, President Truman, then the president of America, authorised the use of the Americans navy, land and air force to go and aid South Korea. A week later, the United Nations placed the forces of 15 other member nations under U.S. command, and Truman appointed Gen. Douglas MacArthur supreme commander.

General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1952)

North Korea met with little opposition from South Korea during the first few weeks of its invasion. It chased some troops from USA and South Korea into a small village known as Pusan, but the United Nations and USA troops had landed there and therefore the north Korean army fell back and retreated.

The fighting that took place

Both sides fought with weopens. They used bombs. Destruction was everywhere, people suffered under the war. The destrution that took place was terrible. Burnt villages, mass killings, sadness filled the air in Korea. The war wages for 3 years and in the 3 years, millions died.

Men and women were killed, children were not spared, villages were destroyed, prisonners and soldiers executed. Bombs dropped from the sky littering the lands below, the castratophe of war.

THE DESTRUTION OF BOMBS

Orphaned children near parents dead body

Mass killings also took place during this war. Countless innocent lives were taken during this time. Mass graves were needed to bury the victims of those mass killings.

The war wages on and the United Nations joined with the American troops. They marched on, defeating the north Korean army as they went. Soon the North Korean army was chased back further up north of Korea. The United Nations troops even managed to get North Korea’s capital Pyongyang. There MacArthur prepared for another attack.