The Korean War is considered the first military action of the cold war. After World War II, Korea fell from Japanese control and was split on the 38th parallel, in August 1945, between America and the Soviet Union. By 1950, the anticommunist dictator Syngman Rhee controlled the south and the communist dictator, Kim Il Sung, controlled the North. Both dictators wanted to expand their power and fighting on the border between the north and south began before the war even started.
Kim Il Sung
When North Korean invaded South Korea on June 25th in 1950, the United States saw this as the first step to the spread of communism. America’s involvement in the war began as defensive, but by the end of the summer in 1950 the U.S. was on the offensive in order to liberate North Korea from Communist power. At first, America’s offensive strategy was a success and the U.S. was able to push North Korea’s military force out of Seoul and back across the 38th parallel. Then, when U.S. troops crossed the border themselves and began to head north toward the boundary separating North Korean and Communist China, China sent their own troops to North Korea and threatened the U.S. with military action if the U.S. continued their approach on the North Korean and Chinese border.
President Truman did not want to begin fighting with China as he believed it would provoke Soviet action and a nuclear war. Therefore, in July 1951 President Truman and his military commanders began peace talks at Panmunjom.
Peace talks at Panmunjom
The negotiations stalled as both sides could accept a ceasefire, which would preserve the 38th parallel boundary, but could not agree on whether prisoners of war should be forcibly sent back to their country of origin after the war. During the stalled negotiations fighting continued for two years until the adversaries signed an armistice on July 27th 1953. The agreement allowed prisoners of war to stay where they wished after the war, created a 2-mile-wide “demilitarized zone,” and drew a new boundary near the 38th parallel that gave South Korea 1,500 square miles of extra territory.
Sources:
The Brothers K 