Split Of A Country

Division 1 Running Head: DIVISION

The Division of a Country: Invasions, Interventions, and Escalations Kriselda Bonifacio Humanities 11 Jesse Bethel High School

Division 2

Abstract In our world there are splits in our daily lives. A split can be defined as a break in something to commonly force it into halves. There are splits in roads, countries, cities, the government, and splits within people. A split in between to different things can stay there for one minute or one-hundred years before the two become unison. Korea for instance has been divided and split between its people since the end of World War II in the 1940s. The country of Korea has gone through countless struggles over government domination throughout the Cold War Era and beyond. Once Unified and Now Conquered Korea was once a unified country from the sixth century (WikiStaff, 2003. Para. 4) until the fall of the Japanese Empire in 1945 (WikiStaff, 2009, para. 1). The Koreans lived a difficult life under the Japanese. Many who were educated fled the country because they felt as though they were in danger. During their stay in Korea, the Japanese became increasingly aggressive and active within the country by banning the Korean language within the school systems and its literature. Millions of Koreans were drafted for forced labor as well along with the stripping of rice stocks, livestock, and metal (anonymous, 2009, para. 6). With

Division 3 these intense reforms, the Korean way of life became bleak and incredibly strenuous for the people. The Division of One Becomes Two On September 8, 1945, Korea was divided by the United States of America and the Soviet Union (presently acknowledged as the country of Russia). The United States supported the Southern half of Korea while as the Soviet Union supported the Northern half. The country was divided through its peninsula. The idea of division was considered at the Potsdam Conference and the wishes of the Koreans to remain free of foreign interference were generally ignored. (WikiStaff, 2009, par.) The United States and The Soviet Union believed that the division was necessary at least until trusted leaderships could be put into place. On a map, the division mark was acknowledged as the thirty-eighth parallel, it being a line on latitude on the northern hemisphere. Approximately two months later in December, the US and The United States of America Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) decided that after five year of international supervision Korea would be able to govern itself again. At the time, Korean-led governments were approved to govern and lead their halves of the country. Not to long afterwards, civil conflict began to break out within the people. With their opposing beliefs, the people were like two

Division 4 beta fishes clashing in one tank. The USAMGIK tried to control the violence by banning revolutionary governments and people’s committees. On September 23, 1946, the Koreans experienced a massive strike held by 8,000 railroad workers who spread to the other cities on the southern side of Korea. It was not too long before another uprising occurred. On October 1, there were three fatalities all of which were student demonstrators, and this became formally known as the Dengu Uprising. (WikiStaff, 2009, para. 13) Many people began to create conflict not only because of opposing beliefs but also because of the United States being another foreign country trying to rule over them. The people were scarred because of the Japanese Empire and their reforms. The Koreans did not want a repeat of their time spent under the Japanese. Leader of the North and South Come Forth Not long after the uprisings has stated a new leader came forth. A man named Kim Il-sung lead a new government called that was approved by the Soviet Union. This approval helped the rise of a Communist government rise within the North. In his time before politics, Il-sung was an anti-Japanese fighter. Il-sung also had very strong connections with the Soviet Union. With Il-sung at the reigns of this new government, those who supported communism

Division 5 in the South went into hiding where the planned their guerilla war against the American-supported government (WikiStaff, 2009, para. 15). While the North had Il-sung as their head the South had Mr. Syngman Rhee leading their operations. Rhee was a United States educated anti-Communist. A little know fact about Rhee is that as a young man Rhee was captured and imprisoned by the Japanese, but he eventually fled and left for the United States. Both politically strong men held intentions of reuniting Northern and Southern Korea under their own governments. Invasions and Interventions After the two governments came into being, the beginning of the Korean War was marked by the death of Douglas Mackiernan. Mackiernan was a CIA agent stationed in China at the time to gather intelligence on the hunch of a predicted war. When Mckiernan were forced to flee from their stations because of the threat of being hunted down he was killed before he was able to deliver the information to the US officials in the Tibetan City of Lhasa, but his men did make it instead. Mckiernan’s death was not in vain and because of his reconnaissance work the United States was now informed of what was going on.

On June 25, 1950, the North

Korean Army crossed the thirty-eighth parallel under the claims of coming to arrest and execute Syngman Rhee. This strike was

Division 6 categorized as an attempt to unify Korea under the government of the North. On June 27, President Truman made a statement saying for all American troops to support the regime of the South. The North’s attacks were quite successful. So successful in fact that the Southern forces began to fall back as a result of the North’s tremendous force. On June 30, 1950, the biggest battle in the Korean Civil War occurred. (WikiStaff, 2009. Para. 22) The North obliterated a humongous compilation of the South’s artillery. the destruction of their artillery took so much hope away from the people that many South Koreans deserted their cause after the destructive battle. It was not before long until many foreign countries such as the United States intervened under the approval of the United Nations. The aggression of the North was growing with each passing day and President Truman knew this as he stated: Communism was acting in Korea, just as Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese had ten, fifteen, and twenty years earlier. I felt a certain that if South Korea was allowed to fall communist leaders would be emboldened to override nations closer to our own shores. If the Communists were permitted to force their way into the Republic of Korea without opposition from the free world, no small nation

Division 7 would have the courage to resist threat and aggression by stronger communist neighbors. President Truman was as right as rain and as clear as day when he made his statement. If the foreign countries had not intervened when they did the smaller nations would loose all hope in keeping their peace. President Truman ordered for the evacuation of

US

Citizens and the transfer of ammunition and equipment to the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) Army. (WikiStaff, 2009. par. 25) The first significant intervention was made by the US Army’s 24th Infantry Division though they we easily defeated by the North Koreans. By September of that year, approximately ten-percent of the Peninsula was under the coalition between the South and the foreign countries. (WikiStaff, 2009. par. 28) In July of 1951, the South and its allies decided to try and move northbound. General MacArthur proposed an amphibious attack where the armed forces would land on a beach and begin to defend that area of the beach. From that point on, the troops would push forward. Amphibious attacks are by far the most complex of battle strategies because it takes an incredible amount of skill at naval, air, and land warfare. the amphibious attack of the city of Incheon was successful because the troops met little to no resistance. Few Northerners were stationed there at the time and much of the city was des-

Division 8 troyed. With Seoul recaptured as well, the Northern Troops quickly retreated back.