Causes Of The Korean War Essay Research

Causes Of The Korean War Essay, Research Paper

Causes of the Korean War

Andrew Glass

Global Studies

Period Seven

The Korean War, 1950-1953

After the USSR installed a Communist government in North Korea in

September 1948, that government promoted and supported an insurgency in

South Korea in an attempt to bring down the recognized government and

gain jurisdiction over the entire Korean peninsula. Not quite two years

later, after the insurgency showed signs of failing, the northern

government undertook a direct attack, sending the North Korea People’s

Army south across the 38th parallel before daylight on Sunday, June 25,

1950. The invasion, in a narrow sense, marked the beginning of a civil

war between peoples of a divided country. In a larger sense, the cold

war between the Great Power blocs had erupted in open hostilities.

The western bloc, especially the United States, was surprised by the

North Korean decision. Although intelligence information of a possible

June invasion had reached Washington, the reporting agencies judged an

early summer attack unlikely. The North Koreans, they estimated, had not

yet exhausted the possibilities of the insurgency and would continue

that strategy only.

The North Koreans, however, seem to have taken encouragement from the

U.S. policy which left Korea outside the U.S. “defense line” in Asia and

from relatively public discussions of the economies placed on U.S. armed

forces. They evidently accepted these as reasons to discount American

counteraction, or their sponsor, the USSR, may have made that

calculation for them. The Soviets also appear to have been certain the

United Nations would not intervene, for in protest against Nationalist

China’s membership in the U.N. Security Council and against the U.N.’s

refusal to seat Communist China, the USSR member had boycotted council

meetings since January 1950 and did not return in June to veto any

council move against North Korea.

Moreover, Kim Il Sung, the North Korean Premier, could be confident that

his army, a modest force of 135,000, was superior to that of South

Korea. Koreans who had served in Chinese and Soviet World War II armies

made up a large part of his force. He had 8 full divisions, each

including a regiment of artillery; 2 divisions at half strength; 2

separate regiments; an armored brigade with 120 Soviet T-34 medium

tanks; and 5 border constabulary brigades. He also had 180 Soviet

aircraft, mostly fighters and attack bombers, and a few naval patrol

craft.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) Army had just 95,000 men and was far less

fit. Raised as a constabulary during occupation, it had not in its later

combat training under a U.S. Military Advisor Group progressed much

beyond company-level exercises. Of its eight divisions, only four

approached full strength. It had no tanks and its artillery totaled

eighty-nine 105-mm. howitzers. The ROK Navy matched its North Korean

counterpart, but the ROK Air Force had only a few trainers and liaison

aircraft. U.S. equipment, war-worn when furnished to South Korean

forces, had deteriorated further, and supplies on hand could sustain

combat operations no longer than fifteen days. Whereas almost $11

million in materiel assistance had been allocated to South Korea in

fiscal year 1950 under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program,

Congressional review of the allocation so delayed the measure that only

a trickle of supplies had reached the country by June 25, 1950.

The North Koreans quickly crushed South Korean defenses at the 38th

parallel. The main North Korean attack force next moved down the west

side of the peninsula toward Seoul, the South Korean capital, thirty-

five miles below the parallel, and entered the city on June 28.

Secondary thrusts down the peninsula’s center and down the east coast

kept pace with the main drive. The South Koreans withdrew in disorder,

those troops driven out of Seoul forced to abandon most of their

equipment because the bridges over the Han River at the south edge of

the city were prematurely demolished. The North Koreans halted after

capturing Seoul, but only briefly to regroup before crossing the Han.

In Washington, where a 14-hour time difference made it June 24 when the

North Koreans crossed the parallel, the first report of the invasion

arrived that night. Early on the 25th, the United States requested a

meeting of the U.N. Security Council. The council adopted a resolution

that afternoon demanding an immediate cessation of hostilities and a

withdrawal of North Korean forces to the 38th parallel.

In independent actions on the night of the 25th, President Truman

relayed orders to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur at MacArthur’s

Far East Command headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, to supply ROK forces with

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