Why did the U.S. Military Intervened in the Korean War and is it Justified?

The Korean war only lasted for three years, starting in 1950 and ending 1953. There were a full amount of countries being involved in The Korean War, such as the Soviet Union, the United States, the Democratic Peoples of Korea (North Korea), the Republic of Korea (South Korea), the United Nations Canada, Columbia, and so forth! The Korean war is known as, “The Forgotten War,” in America because nothing was accomplished by the Americans. They didn’t win, nor did they lose. America’s goal was never reached. Despite the Americans, the Koreans are nowhere close to forgetting about the Korean War. It is far from being forgotten to them because the war did not end, nor was it close to ending; However, it can also be looked upon as, “The Forgotten War,” because it happened right after World War II and before The Vietnam War.

Those two big events have marginalized this war. Nevertheless, The Korean Armistice was signed. It is an agreement of the conflicting groups to stop fighting, or in this case is to take a fifty-year pause. So, this armistice did not put an end on the war. Even so, South Korea never signed the agreement on July 27, 1953 and North Korea decided to abandon the agreement in 2013. The war could have ended if a peace treaty was signed by the combatants. To this day, North Korea and South Korea are still divided by the Thirty-eighth parallel, which happened right after World War II. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered with defeat within their control over Korea. Japan has been officially been in control over Korea, since 1910, however, after their defeat in the World War II, they were forced to surrender. The United States and The Soviet Union took over, but decided to separate Korea into the North and South. The United States were in charge of the South, while The Soviet Union was in control of the North. They mutually agreed to divide Korea, which is where the 38th parallel is introduced. There are reasons why the term, “The Forgotten War,” was first introduced was because this was how the Americans views upon it on the time being and because in this paper, it will be discussed on the reasons why The United States decided to intervene in the Korean war. Was it even their war to begin with? If so, is it justified enough to be? The United States have made sacrifices, such as over 35,000 of their men have been killed and over 100,000 of their men have been wounded. After all, was it worth it?

This is how the Korean War started: On June 25, 1950, it was a commence of a new war, after World War II has ended 5 years prior. About 100, 000 North Korean soldiers were advised and supplied with Soviet battle tanks, and artillery; and fighter planes went over the Thirty-eighth parallel and invaded South Korea. This action announces a new phase and the first action of the Cold War, such as one that would be repeated in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and a dozen other locations. However, North Koreans intent was to reunite with South Korea as one, but under communist ideologies by Kim Il-Sung, whom was the first supreme leader of North Korea. This war was planned as two month war. When July hits, the United States has sent their troops to the war. Before the official intervention of the United States, The United Nations stated that the invasion of North Korea to be Illegal. From there, they endorsed the United States to intervene because of the goal to restore the borders. They were in favor of South Korea. Not only did the United States commit, there were also fifteen United Nations that committed their forces to take action. On the other side, the Soviet Union was on behalf of North Korea. Leading on from there, the United States did have their own reasons on why they intervened. President Truman aspired to stop communism from spreading. Not only was it their fear, but it was also feared by other nations. The United States also wanted the Soviet Union to be silenced. So, for entering the war, they could personally shut them down. As mentioned before, the Soviet Union played a huge part in North Korea’s invasion on South Korea. The Soviet Union have encouraged the North to take action.

Furthermore, the United States had their own definition of communism. According to Gateway, communism is an ideology developed by Karl Marx, calling for violent revolution by workers (proletariat) to overthrow the “bourgeoisie” and establish a classless society. There were multiple reasons why the United States were so against communism because it went against their ideologies. For example, personal freedom is lost (this is sided with America), workers are treated as machines, materialistics approaches to life problems, and central state authority holds all means of production. Overall, it discards ethics. Communism could only work if people would try to work together and equally put as much effort in their work, then communism could be looked as an advantage; however, this is seemed as impossible in the world, and those who rule under a communist government may just overlooked it.

It could be say that the United States and other nations that believe communism is the enemy (not exactly sure what to say). In further detail, there is a group of men and women working the same job, however, it is found that there is only a small portion of them working hard, while the rest are lazy and are recalcitrant altogether. It wouldn’t be fair for the hard workers to be tied with them. In historical context, in Cuba, Fidel Castro took power and was titled as a dictator. There were citizens that were hard workers and lived a meaningful life, but it was taken away from Castro’s government. People started to immigrate to America, or anywhere where they wouldn’t live under dictatorship and communism

Before and during the war, the United States was under Harry S. Truman’s presidency; therefore, he was the one who declared to go intervened in the Korean War. On June 27, 1950, literally two days after the Korean War has started, President truman announces that the U.S. forces will be sent. They will be on behalf of South Korea to help those in need of aid, owing to the fact that South koreans are hold as hostiles. Also, to halt the spread of communism. According to their action, the United States were called, “the world’s police officers,” because they fulfilled their role of being so.

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