The Vietnam War: The Korean War

The Korean War This July 27th marks the 60th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the combat phase of the Korean War, but the conflict did not end on July 27, 1953, it merely came to a temporary halt. Though the Korean War may been overshadowed by World War II and the Vietnam War in the minds of many Americans, it had a dramatic effect on social change in the United States ("Korean War had major impact on race relations..."). We have spent the past 60 years living not in a post-war era, but under a ceasefire. The Cold War may have ended 20 years ago with the fall of the USSR, but the same feelings remain alive and well on the Korean Peninsula. In this period and during the last years of the Bush administration as well, North
The results of the Korean War have had an extremely negative influence on present day USA - DPRK relations and have also created an increased nuclear threat to the world due to the lack of a peace treaty and proper actions to create a more unified Korea. Before World War II, the Korean peninsula was controlled by the Japanese Empire. Under the Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, the Japanese imperial government implemented the "divide and rule" policy, which demarcated the Korean peninsula according to its geographic characteristics to utilize and exploit the natural resources more effectively ("Overview of the Korean War and its Legacy"). The original conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea began on June 25, 1950 and ended with an armistice on July 27, 1953. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation. In 1948 rival governments were established: The Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the South and the People's Democratic Republic of Korea
The occupation of the Soviets influenced the North Korean government to turn into a communist government. In addition, the assistance of Chinese troops during the war and their presence in the country until 1958 gave China some degree of influence in North Korea. In 1961, North Korea concluded formal mutual security treaties with the Soviet Union and China, which have not been formally ended. In the 1950s, after the Soviets had pulled out, the newly created communist dictatorship of North Korea invaded the southern half trying to turn it communist as well. The Unites States saw this as a threat to world democracy and assisted South Korea, starting this seemingly eternal war. North Korea's nuclear research program started with Soviet help in the 1960s, on condition that it joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In the past years North Korea has threatened to launch nuclear weapons to neighboring countries such as Japan and South Korea. Recent tests indicate that the regime’s nuclear capabilities are improving, and they may be only a few years away from developing a weapon that can hit the continental U.S. Such an aspiration is not that far-fetched, given the regime’s recent statement and propaganda that advertises this goal with images of their nukes hitting Capitol Hill. With the amount of