6) The Korean War, 1950-53

Question 1

Along what was Korea split

Answer 1

38th parallel

Question 2

Kim II Sung

Answer 2

founder of North Korea
sent to the USSR for training where he joined the communist party
set up the democratic people republic of Korea

Question 3

Syngman Ree

Answer 3

Served as the first president of south Korea
developed a reputation for authoritarian rule as all his political opponents were silenced

Question 4

UNTCOK

Answer 4

United Nations Commission On Korea
mandate was to assist the unification of Korea and stop occupying forces
oversaw south Korean elections in 1948
The group was not recognised in the North as they believed it broke the 1945 Moscow accords

Question 5

Causes of the Korean War

Answer 5

-communist verse Capitalist ideas
-wanted to install different leaders who both were unwilling to compromise
-Both nations working towards the reunification of Korea.
-Rhee needed the US’s backing in order to fight the war successfully
-Kim believed that if a war took place it would be took quick for America to intervene, since Korea was not part of the defensive perimeter, Stalin gave Kim the green light on invasion

Question 6

USSR’s approval of the Korean war

Answer 6

originally reluctant to support Sung’s want for an invasion of the South, after the Chinese fall to communism and Korean not being included in the defensive perimeter strategy, Stalin sent over weaponry to help Sung but refused to send troops, in order to prevent a direct Soviet-US conflict
He did this so Sung would not turn to China for help and therefore undermine the USSR’s position
Stalin did request Mao’s intervention in the war

Question 7

Phase 1 of the Korean war

Answer 7

June 1950
Kim’s forces advance into Korea and reach the perimeter point of Pusan

Question 8

Phase 2 of the Korean War

Answer 8

September 1950
MacArthur arrives in Inchon and forces communist troops back across the 38th parallel
This prompts Mao to send over Chinese troops to Korea and starts a major counter attack against MacArthur’s UN forces

Question 9

When did Mao send troops to Korea

Answer 9

October 1950

Question 10

Phase 3 of the Korean War

Answer 10

-Nov 1950- June 1951
-Counter offence results in the UN being pushed back to the 38th parallel and the capitalist capital being captured
-This results in the UN condemning the Chinese as aggressors
-MacArthur’s call or nuclear warfare and aggressive tactics get him dismissed (April 1951)
-By June the US indicate a ceasefire

Question 11

Phase 4 of the Korean War

Answer 11

Jan 1951
Very unactive military phase
the lack of action convince Mao and Stalin the UN want peace
negotiations take time since conflicting ideals
Rhee lengthens negotiations because he wants the US to have a dependency on Korea as an containment ally
death of Stalin speed up talks

Question 12

Korean war settlement

Answer 12

July 1953
Panmunjom Armistice agreement
demilitarised zone along the 38th parallel
all military forces return to their territory
all prisoners to be returned
pre war conditions return

Question 13

China’s troops in the Korean war

Answer 13

due to soviet pressure to intervene, Mao massed his troops on the boarder close to the Soviet union in order to prevent a nuclear strike

Question 14

UN’s involvement in the Korean war

Answer 14

the US dominated the UN, use in Korea made they look imperialist (US was preoccupied in Japan)
UN forces were brought in to fight back against the communists
because the soviets were still boycotting the UN, they could not block the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Korea

Question 15

Who initially takes over from Stalin

Answer 15

Georgy Malenkov, soon ousted by Khrushchev

Question 16

impact of Korean war on North and South Korea

Answer 16

overall positive
economic and security benefits from individual leaders to secure the regimes

Question 17

Impact of Korean war on Taiwan and FRG

Answer 17

USA now committed to ensuring Taiwan remained under nationalist control
FRG was allowed to rearm

Question 18

Impact of the Korean war on the USA

Answer 18

committed to Taiwan and containment in the far east

Question 19

Impact of the Korean war on USSR

Answer 19

placed significant economic pressure on the USSR and they had to speed up the industrialisation of eastern Europe which resulted a huge reduction of consumer goods and in some anti-communist action, for example the Volksaufstand (which the USA would support as the terms of NCS-68 stated)
to undermine Mao and China while promoting Stalin as the defender of communism

Question 20

impact of Korean war on China

Answer 20

focused on becoming independent from the USSR and being the central communist force in Asia and potentially the world
still wanted to recover Taiwan

Question 21

British view on the Korean War

Answer 21

could ruin the stability of NATO and the UK wasn’t interested in globalisation but they did need America’s support as a main priority

Question 22

Democratic people’s republic of Korea

Answer 22

North
Declared in September 1948

Question 23

Spending in the Turman administration

Answer 23

tripled the defence spending between 1950-53 (from 5% to 14.2%)

Question 24

How many troops to Mao send to Korea

Answer 24

300,000

Question 25

Causalities in the Korean war

Answer 25

N. Korea and China suffered 1.5 million causalities while the UN/US forces suffered 94,000
this is largely due to the Chines ‘human wave’ tactics and US superiority in arms and equipment