The Korean War began on the 25 June 1950 when soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army marched across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the USSR-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) and the US-supported Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea). After calls for ceasefire by the United Nations failed, American troops entered the war, reenforcing the ROK Army; by 25 November in the same year, the Chinese troops were pulled into the war as well - the Americans responded by sending in more tropps the following year. Meanwhile, US officials worked anxiously to call for some sort of armistice with the North Koreans, feareing that an all-out warfare with Russia and China – or even, as some warned, the third world …show more content…
To the Americans, this was not a trivial border dispute between two parties somewhere on the map. Instead, they feared that it was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world - they believed that should one country fell to communism, then others would follow, much like a domino effect. Hence, it is in US’s stance to intervene in this conflict, as per their containment policy. (In fact, in April 1950, the NSC-68, a National Security Council report, had recommended that the US use military force to “contain” communist expansionism “regardless of the intrinsic strategic or economic value of the lands in …show more content…
Perhaps caught by surprise, the NKPA had no choice but to retreat, with the US driving them back and recapturing South Korea. The defensive war soon became an offensive one: it was a war to weed out communism, to liberate the North from the communists. (But, as they will eventually realize, it is one thing to try to contain the spread of communism, and should they go a step further to try to expel communism out of the system, they ought to be prepared for the escalation that would