Image of the Korean War Memorial in Washington D.C. obtained from http://answersinhistory.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/korean-war-memorial_large.jpgThe Japanese annexed Korea in 1910, and left it in August 1945. North of the 38th parallel, the Japanese surrendered to Soviets, and South of the parallel they surrendered to the Americans. In 1948 the Republic of Korea formed in the South, based in Seoul, the traditional capitol of Korea. It was headed by Syngman Rhee. In the North, communists formed the Democratic People's Republic based in Pyongyang, led by Kim Il Sung. By June of 1949, only 500 American troops were left in Korea as the rest were pulled out. Seeing this, the Soviets believed that the Americans would not fight back in the case of a North Korea invasion. June 25, 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea. South Korea called for a United Nations (U.N.) vote to send troops to stop the invasion. Because the Soviet Union was not present (they were boycotting the U.N. at the moment), the vote passed. June 27th, President Truman ordered American troops stationed in Japan to assist South Korea, as well as sending a fleet of warships. In total, 16 nations in the U.N. provided 520,000 troops, 90% of whom were American. Along with 590,000 South Korean troops, the U.N. forces were placed under the command of General Douglas MacArthur.
--Posted by Andres and Lawrence
Ooh, well written article with lots of facts. The picture is kind of scary.
ReplyDeleteGreat information! this really explains a lot about the Korean War beginning.
ReplyDeleteStraightforward and easy to read, a nice article about the start of the Korean War. Nice citation on the picture. =)
ReplyDeleteI liked how the article did not have too many complicated statistics and merely introduced the War like the Title suggested. The picture at the start also set the mood for the article. Basically, good job!
ReplyDelete-Greg