Noah Patnode
U.S. History since 1945
Final Project
Korean War: Then and Now While the Korean War is not a “forgotten” war by any means it does not get the same amount of attention as the Vietnam War does when talking about Cold War proxy wars. The interesting part about the Korean War is that it technically is still being fought. While Vietnam ended with the American withdrawal and the overrun of South Vietnam’s capital of Saigon, Ho Chi-Minh City, that ended it and brought the country under Northern communist rule. Korea on the other hand has just been dealing with a 70-year ceasefire between an ultra-capitalist, democratic south and a poor, socialist, dictatorship in the north. The lack of a formal peace treaty between North and South Korea
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The South Korean government also ranks high in terms of democratic ideals, ranking as the 20th most democratic country on the democracy matrix through the University of Würzburg in Germany (UN, democracy matrix). North Korea however we see as a dangerous rogue hermit state with a leader who prioritizes their own power and control over their country rather than the betterment of his people. North Korea on the other hand ranks low on most international scales whether it be looking at the freedom of a country or how the economy stacks up to the rest of the world. In comparison to their southern neighbor, North Korea ranks 175 on the democracy matrix out of 176 nations only being above Eritrea and has a low economic rank according to the UN (UN, Democracy Matrix). Now my critique of North Korea is not towards their people because with the personality cult and control that Kim Jong Un has over his people there is no way anyone can see past what he says. I mention this because while we look at their respective political and economic pasts, looking at where they are today explains why and how we are where we are …show more content…
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