Korean War Source Analysis

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Firstly the Korean War was a Cold War conflict was the manifestation of the Cold war through a proxy. This moved the rivalry of the superpowers , fighting from Europe to Asia, and became a direct conflict. Syngman Rhee (South Korea) under USA’s support, was a strategist who claimed to “produce a victorious end to the wars in Korea … would swing the balance of power so strongly against the Soviet Union that it would not dare risk war with the United States”. Kim Il Sung (North Korea) was emboldened by both China and USSR and said “the liberation of the Korean people in the south is next in line”. It would seem that North Korea had plans to unify Korea and USSR supported the unification. The control the superpowers had over Korea proves …show more content…

The purpose of the source was to re-examine the Korean War due to the declassification of state papers from USA, China and Russia. Thus presenting alternative views revising previous interpretations of the crisis, aiding readers in having a variety of viewpoints of the Korean War. The value of the source is therefore its access to a wide range of evidences, which proves the extent researched. Also its inclusion of new evidence as compared to books written pre-2001, provides greater analysis into the Korean War. The limitation of the source would be the extensive use of personal pronoun, which hints at bias as it may be written with the intention of publication thus needing to portray its perspective with more optimism then necessarily …show more content…

As mentioned in ‘War, the American State, and Politics since 1898’, with regards to the Korean War being distinct to the Cold War, “the U.S. Army’s integration … had a galvanizing influence on the extension of new rights for a marginalized minority group that served honorably in an armed conflict”.

The Korean War was also seen as an internal conflict as it began with Kim and Rhee. There were plans to unite Korea during the Moscow Conference. Rhee strongly opposed but Kim was in favor as he had the support of USSR. The subsequent forming of 2 separate governments of different ideology within the same country was indication of a civil war. North Korean Spies were found across the border, and many armed aggressions broke out near the 38th parallel. Despite the incidences being “faint,” there was a “chain of violence,” between the North and South Korean military. Later Kim expanded the North Korean army and with Stalin’s support prepared for war in the Korean