Why did the Korean War Start?

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Why Did the Korean War Start

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Introduction

The Korean War , which was fought on the Korean Peninsula , began as a civil war . It was initiated by North Korean when on June 25 , 1950 , it attacked South Korea . In South Korea it is often called 6 .25 or Han-guk Jeonjaeng or the Korean War . In North Korea it is often called the Fatherland Liberation War . In the United States , it was called a police action by the US Officials mainly to avoid the necessity

of a declaration of war by the United States Congress . In China , this was remembered as the War to Resist America and Aid Korea . Sometimes this war is also called The Forgotten War because history did not consider it as a major conflict despite the loss of lives and property (Paul Edwards ,

.15

The division between North and South Korea started as early as after World War II . After the Soviets drove away the Japanese in the Korean Peninsula they occupied Korea . The Soviets then entered into an agreement with the United States not to go beyond the 38th Parallel Pursuant to their agreement , Japanese forces north of the 38th Parallel surrendered to the Soviet Union . On the other hand , those of the south surrendered to the United States . This paved the way for the division of Korea into North and South thereby establishing the foundation to what later will be called as the Korean War

Although there were no plans of making the partition between the North and South Korea permanent , the actions and policies of the two countries contributed to the division . It must be stressed that both the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to administer the country under the US-Soviet Joint Commission . This is essentially an agreement between the two countries that after four years of self government under international trusteeship , Korea would become free and independent

Despite all these efforts , it seemed that for the Koreans independence and unification were there only goals . As a result , the United Nations commission voted for an election to be held in Korea . There are however two factions fighting over the issue of unification . In the South Syngman Rhee , who was supported by the United States , wanted to unify Korea under his leadership while in the North , the Soviets and the Chinese supported Kim II - Sung . But this election was also refused both in the North and in the South

What eventually happened was these two leaders took an interest in unifying North and South Korea under their own system . In dawn of June 25 , 1950 , realizing that it had superior firepower and excellent support coming from the Soviets and thinking that the Americans will not intervene in South Korea , Kim II-Sung ed an attack against the South Korea (William Stueck ,

61 ) What started as fights in the b of North and South Korea eventually escalated into full-scale civil war that lasted for three years . When the...