In April of 1950, a top-secret document called the NSC-68 was drafted and put on the desk of President of the United States. This document reflected the growing crisis inside the executive branch of the US government. As well, it discussed the increasing expansion of Soviet Communism around the world and raised the issue of how the US might be able to counteract Soviet power and influence. This was not to be accomplished by war, but by a growing belief that the US must take every chance to stop communism from spreading. 9 However, it seemed South Korea was currently not in the area of military priority and there was nothing that the White House could do to change this at the moment.

Nevertheless, the world had changed direction from the possibility of world war to 30 years of safe Cold War. This change cost the rest of the world very little, on the other hand it cost the Korean people enormously – at least for the short term. For the rest of the world the war was limited, but for Koreans it was total war. The losses in numbers for the Korean people killed, wounded and missing reached nearly 3 million. The loss of property was also enormous, reaching about 4 billion dollars (US dollars), between the North and the South.11 However something positive had to come out this chaos. Never again would the US put its guard down. With a new policy of military and financial aid South Korea would grow to became one the Asian Tigers and enjoy the prosperity of rapidly becoming an economic powerhouse. For 48 million Koreans in the south today, the war ended centuries of foreign rule and the beginning of prosperity and recognition.

Even though the Soviets refused to support them, the elections in the South Korea still proceeded. On May 10th, 1948 the Republic of Korea was formed under a new constitution. In response, the Soviets proclaimed the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on September 9th.

“The recent Soviet behavior suggested that, more then ever before, the Soviet Union might be willing to undertake a course of action, including the possible us of force, with might lead to an accidental outbreak of military conflict.” 7

During 1946, Soviet-US relations began to deteriorate rapidly. US leaders viewed the Soviet imposed communist governments in Eastern Europe as an expansion of Russian rule. Then, in 1947, tensions between these two superpowers were dramatically heightened by the announcement of the Marshall Plan. The plan was instituted because of the widespread fears that poverty in Europe was breeding political discontent and thus converting millions to communism. A much stronger Europe was needed to resist the perceived Russian threat and intimidation of its neighbors, and to stop the spread of communism. However tensions in Asia began in January 1946 during discussions concerning postwar Korea.

damage to the US homeland. Therefore, this new development greatly reduced the potential of America’s atomic arsenal to stop a Soviet conventional military strike. To make things worse for the Far Eastern Asia region, the Soviet plan became clearer when U

Some topics in this essay:
Korean War, South Korea, Cold War, Americans American, China Russia, Korean War10, Europe Soviet, United Nations, Combined Truman’s, Korea Communist, south korea, korean war, world war, united nations, north korea, soviet union, north korean, collective security, korean people, korean war served, military aid, stop spread communism, agency collective security, invasion south korea,