The Korean War physically devastated the Republic of Korea, commonly known as South Korea, and psychologically scarred the lives of millions, both soldiers and civilians alike. However, the War, fought from 1950 to 1953, provided the Korean economy with an opportunity to escape from poverty and the ability to enter the international competition for markets. Retiring from the Korean War, South Korea presented per capita income of only $65, which ranked the country as the second poorest around the globe (Park, 2010). Nonetheless, the government employed a “low-cost” approach to achieve universal primary education during the 1950s through crowded classrooms and low-wage teachers, giving hope to its citizens and laying the foundation for Korea’s economic “miracle”. …show more content…
Furthermore, through economic development plans during the Park Chung Hee administration, South Korea recorded unforeseen growth rates of more than 10 percent annually for three decades, starting from 1964. With per capita income of $17,175 in 2009, South Korea ranked 15th in the world and private Korean businesses, such as Samsung Electronics, were established in Fortune’s 100 global entrepreneurs. As the country reconstructed and developed its economic sector, urban migration rate, or urbanization rate, increased from 23 percent to 81 percent between 1955 and 2005. In addition, the standard of living in urban cities heightened greatly, with each household owning at least one television and one automobile on average. Due to industrialization and rise in living qualities throughout South Korea, higher percentage of the population identified as the middle class and by 2009, 66.7 percent of Koreans belonged to the class, compared to 20.5 percent in
Korea’s history already determined it was a weak country, having been a pawn for Far Eastern powers, so Cold War had left it nearly destroyed with epidemics, poverty, limited education, and authoritarian rulers (LaFeber, 2008). In this state, Korea was left vulnerable to communism. In 1945, the 38th parallel marked the ally agreement of disarming the occupying Japanese military, however by the end of the Korean War, it would be the indivisible line that divided the country between communism and democracy (LaFeber, 2008). In June 1950, when North Korean troops passed the 38th parallel, President Truman gave the order for American air and naval units to move into action to aid South Korea and to show the United States’ opponents that “the United States was no longer content with mere “containment” but now aimed for liberation (LaFeber, 2008, p. 114). LaFeber (2008) explains President Truman’s intent, “
The Korean War began in the early hours of June 25, 1950. The North Korean troops carried out their surprise attack on South Korea without any declaration of war. The North and South had experienced some clashes along the 38th parallel before, where North and South Korea had been divided. However, they never had such an unexpected attack in the Southern Camp. They were completely unprepared and weren’t properly equipped for such a sudden event.
Massive Retaliation is the threat of using nuclear weapons against the Soviets if they tried to seize a country not occupied by them and/or tried to expand there country by force. While Brinkmanship was the threat of using nuclear weapons to get an opposing country to back down/consed, Eisenhower used these effectively in the Korean war but there were saw as too dangerous. He used these to easily dispose of the Korean threat by threatening the use of nukes, and all the while, kept communism from spreading into Korea.
Although, it also frequently denotes the various shortcomings of the US recapture and invasion of South Korean and North Korea respectively. This bias does not entirely take away from this excerpt as it is true that the US - South Korean treaty is different from many others and that Korea has since risen to a global economic superpower. This perspective about the Korean legacy resulting from the war shows that not all effects of the Korean war were entirely negative but all positives were hard fought and paid for with the blood, pain and lives of
On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea, and the Republic of Korea, South Korea. This has reached international proportions since the spark of war. Concerned that the Soviet Union and Communist China may have encouraged this invasion, the United States became involved. The United States fought in the Korean War to contain communism. The United States was successful in fighting this war for the reason that they succeeded in preventing communism from overtaking and spreading while benefiting from war efforts.
The biggest challenges faced by America in the Korean War were, Korea not being able to defend itself, tactics Korean communist troops used against America and soldiers thinking the war as useless while questioning “What are we fighting for?” The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953, beginning when the North Korean communist army crossed the 38th parallel and invaded non-communist South Korea. As Kim II-sung's North Korean troops armed with soviet tanks, quickly overran South Korea and the United States came to South Korea's aid. If South Korea was not able to carry itself without the Unite States and the Soviet Union getting involved then that would cause another world war, because all of Korea would become communist because of North Korea
The main author of the article was Sang Hun-Choe. Sang Hun-Choe joined The Associated Press in 1994. He was a graduate of Hankuk University in Seoul and is a veteran of the South Korean army. Before he was in the AP he was a political reporter in South Korea. Martha Mendoza also contributed to the article.
History casts its judgments on events; while they are going on, the coin is still in the air, but once they are sealed, as the saying goes, the winners write the history books. The Korean War is a conflict that has been shrouded in misunderstanding and a lack of educational resources. Veterans of the war are still struggling for recognition in the US today. “The struggle for recognition… can fragment social structures and undermine common culture or can promote solidarity and consensus. Nowhere is the integrative function of recognition more evident than in the Korean War Veterans Memorial” (Schwartz and Bayma 42).
The Korean War was halted temporarily under the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement, where the active hostilities ceased. Nevertheless, this armistice was left as it is and no peace treaties were agreed upon afterwards, leading to a long temporary measure in the division of the two Koreas. Many confuse with the fact that the Korean War has ended, but it has not technically ended. According to the international law of Laws and Customs of War on Land also known as The Hague II (1989), article 36 states that, “An armistice suspends military operations by mutual agreement between the belligerent parties. If its duration is not fixed, the belligerent parties can resume operations at any time, provided always the enemy is warned within the time
One of the military events was the Korean War. The Korean War begins when North Korea invaded South Korea in June. The country had previously been divided after the end of World War II with the North becoming Communist and the South remaining Capitalist. After the initial division each side had indicated that they wanted to unify the country under their preferred ideology but only small attacks had been made. Full on civil war began after the North launched a full invasion and eventually captured the South's capital of Seoul.
Firstly, the Korean War was a bloody a war that was between the North Koreans and South Koreans that began on June 25, 1950. This occurred in 1948 when the country was split in half in the 38th parallel. Kim IL Sung who ruled the Northside and Syngman Rhee who ruled the Southside and they were both enemies . This war was a real turn over in Canadian history and showed so much growth and change in the 1950’s. For example on June 25, 1950, the North Koreans went to the 38th parallel and attacked the South Koreans.
After the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and the increasingly presence of western and globalization influence, Korea embraced the era of “technological reproducibility” and sheer industrialization (Kim 26). This fact is evident in
The estimated years to recover and bring Korea’s society out of the after effects of war was substantially long. However, in just 50 years, South Korea is one of the leaders of the world in terms of international market and technology. (Montserrat, 1996, p153) South Korea was able to see a miracle like this one thanks to the highly nationalistic attitude possessed by the Koreans.
When talk about Korea, no one who does not know Korea. People known that Korea is a modern country that had a fast growing economy, and had a top education ranking. I have known Korea through the spread of Korean culture. Nowadays, in Thailand, Korean culture has a role in the everyday lives of people. The question that arises now is “Why Korea?”