Korean War

Leaders
1. Kim ll-sung (1912-94)
  1. In the early years of the cold war Kim tried to unify all of Korea under his own communist leadership
  2. Kim led North Korea throughout the Korean War before accepting the armistice in 1953
  3. in the later years of his ruling the North fell further and further into poverty and authoritarianism.
  4. He continued to rule as a communist country for another 40 years after the end of the Cold War
2. Douglas C. MacArthur (1880-1964)
  1. He's considered one of the most powerful military officers in modern American history. MacArthur badly underestimated the Chinese though and the threat they posed, so they were caught completely off guard by the Chinese in November 1950. With MacArthur's forces thrown into retreat, MacArthur demanded a retaliation- possibly involving nuclear weapons- against China itself. President Truman refused his request fearing it would lead to WWlll. After Truman and MacArthur got in a very public fight about the subject, Truman decided to relieve MacArthur of his duties.
  2. He organised what was said to be a 'brilliant' amphibious attack behind enemy lines at Inchon.
  3. his attack nearly allowed the United States to win the war in the fall of 1950.
  4. MacArthur badly underestimated the Chinese though and the threat they posed, so they were caught completely off guard by the Chinese in November 1950.
3. Syngman Rhee(1875-1965)
  1. He was an American- educated Korean exile who returned to his country to become the first president of South Korea in 1948.
  2. He was about 70 years old by the time he became Korea's first president and had also become a strong anti- communist.
  3. His presidency largely failed to make substantial gains in the quality of life for the war-torn Koreans.
  4. Rhee employed authoritarian measures to maintain power.
  5. Once the North crossed the 38th parallel in June 1950. Rhee ordered his army and police to murder domestic political opponents, as many as 100,000 people are believed to have been killed in what was named 'summer of terror'.
    1. The executions were meant to send a message to stop the advancing Northern troops,
  6. Rhee's attention to trying to eliminate the political opponents almost lead to the collapse of his country.
Political
1. America- Harry Truman decided participating in the Korean War would give him an almost instant political opportunity back home in the U.S. Truman's decision to commit American forces to battle earned him renewed support from the public. From MacArthur's string of victories in Korea, Truman's approval ratings were raised by more than 40% for the last time during his presidency. While the American soldiers were fighting in Korea, Truman requested additional money for military spending, All this money though was for the secret document/ plan- NSC-68. This was the plan to make more nuclear bombs that were more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima. The United States's military spending went from $13 billion in 1950 to $55 billion in 1952 and has never fully dropped back down to the budget of 1950.
Ideology's
1. North Korea's leader Kim lll-sung ideology when first invading the South was to unite the country. He wanted to do this through making the entire country communist. After being defeat in the war he started, he started leading the country with a new ideology. He wanted them to live by self-independence or Juche as it was named shortly after.
2. South Korea's ideology- Rhee Syngman was a fanatic anti- communist. even though he professed faith in Christianity, he had more Koreans killed than any other tyrants in Korean history. He was behind the Cheju 4.3 massacre, the Daejun massacre, the Suwon massacre, the blowing up of the Hangang bridge, assassination of Kim Ku and Yo Woon Yung and countless other Koreans.
Social Impact
1. Many of the Korean's who had decided to stay in Seoul while it was being taken over by the communists had to endure bombings overhead, but also the possibility that they could be found by the communists and be killed.
2. Numerous were killed, wounded or went missing- totalling between three and four million during three years of war.
3. As many as 1 million fled from the North to the south leading to a decrease in workforce.
4. many families were separated by the divide of North and South
5. thousands starved due to crops being destroyed.
6. At one stage in the war the U.S soldiers killed hundreds of North Korean families that had fled to the South, fearing that the North Korean agents had infiltrated the fleeing families.
Cultural impact
1. Many families lost members, houses, heirlooms and properties. People who decided to stay in their homes had their property bombed, family members killed/lost.
2. while the people who fled to neighbouring territory also lost family members, were captured, lost their homes/ heirlooms
Movements
1. A poster made from North Korea shows a Korean woman, ripping an American flag in half with the caption underneath that translates to 'Let's throw out the US army which is the cause of unhappiness and pain.'
2. A poster made by the Korean's showing how the US army treated the Korean's during the war and the pain they put them through. The poster shows members of the US army torturing a Korean lady who's been tied to a chair and the US army's pulling out her teeth one by one. From the look drawn on the lady's face it shows how much pain she's in. The US army did this to many refugees thinking they'd been infiltrated by the North's government and were a threat to the South and the US army.
Economical
1. The US started with a budget of $13 billion for military in 1950 and by 1952 the budget had been pushed up to $55 billion. The budget was supposed to make weapons for US's military team but ended up creating nuclear weapons that were stronger than the one dropped on Hiroshima
2. The Korean War cost the world a total of $350 billion

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