HIST 2476 Lecture 2: Korean War - An Introduction
Document Summary
Us and ussr eject japan from korea in 1945. Cold war hardens, no possibility for unifying korea. Kim il-sung heads the communist people"s democratic republic of korea in the north. Syngman rhee heads anti commie republic of korea in the south. Civil war in korea 1945-1950 -long before the war starts for america. Why do north koreans invade the south on june 25, 1950. American troops had been pulled out beforehand. Felt committing major resources to korea would weaken the western effort. Acheson made a defense perimeter speech that gave kim the assumption that the us wouldn"t help the south. Acheson didn"t mention that the us would automatically defend. American officials felt that this was the plan of the soviets. Soviets had pulled out troops, but not tanks and things which they still provided. Soviet assistance made the attack possible, but kim il-sung made the decision to invade. Highly improbable korea would have attacked without soviet approval.
