03 - Globalisation of the Cold War - The Korean War

Hwa Chong Institution (College) Paper 1 Theme I: Understanding the Cold War, 1945 -1991 How was the global Cold War fought? 1 EXTENSION OF THE COLD WAR OUTSIDE EUROPE (THE KOREAN WAR) The graphic above lists the proxy wars of the Cold War. However, Cold war intervention was not restricted to these countries; both superpowers also competed for influenc e on the political and economic development of smaller nations, from providing moral and financial support to the supply of arms equipment and/or military training. Such intervention led to massive disruption and considerable suffering in other countries. Often, democratically leaders were overthrown, despotic regimes used violence and re pression to consolidate po wer and Cold War influence often led to the protraction of a conflict. On the other hand, foreign manipulation and involvement in proxy wars also helped alleviate Cold War tensions and decreased the likelihood of a full-scale nuclear war. The Korean War (1950-1953)  The Korean War was in origin a civil war over the unification and the future direction of Korea but it became an issue of ideological conflict wi thin the superpower rivalry of the Cold War. Gaddis has described the Korean War as a conflict where small states along the periphery of empires, through their own self-centered behaviour, could embroil the great powers in unintended confrontations with each other. It also illustrates how events can proceed for some time along parallel but separate tracks, only to converge all at once with unpredictable results. Decisions made in Pyongyan g, Moscow, Beijing, Seou l, Tokyo and Washington determined what happened; and yet no one, in any of those capitals, anticipated it. 1 1. Why was there a North and South Korea to begin with?  Once an independent unified nation, Korea came under Japanese rule in 1910 and remained a colony till the end of World War II. On 8 August 1945, the Sovi et Union declared war on Japan and marched into Manchuria and entered Korea. At the Potsdam Conference, the United States, then making plans to invade the Japanese mainland, was more than content to leave Manchuria and Korea to the Soviets. However, with                                                               1 John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, p. 70.

Hwa Chong Institution (College) Paper 1 Theme I: Understanding the Cold War, 1945 -1991 How was the global Cold War fought? 2 the prospect of the war actually coming to a sudden end after the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki (9 August 1945), Washington now reassessed its future interest in Asia and decided on the joint occupation of Korea with the Soviet Union. Without any natural division to the Korean peninsula, the 38 th parallel, which roughly divided the co untry in half, was proposed to the Kremlin. The Soviet Union would occupy Korea to the north of this line, with the United States occupying the territory to the south. Stalin agreed to the division along this artificial boundary. In September 1945, American troops landed at Inchon and established their occupation of the south.2  Indeed, by the end of 1945, the joint occupation of Korea had come to resemble the situation in Germany, w i t h n e i t h e r s i d e p r e p a r e d t o w i t h d r a w f o r f e a r that the other might not. While Germany had obvious strategic importance for both superpowers, Korea did not appear to: American and Soviet troops remained there more to restrain each other than from any stro ng conviction, in either Washington or Moscow, that the territory itself was sign ificant. This was to set a pattern for wh at became common during the Cold War – the sheer presence of one side convinced the other it had to be there too. Korea also replicated another feature of empires, which was the ease with which peripheries could manipulate the centre. Conditions on the peninsula had been anarchic after the Japanese surrender, and in the ensuing confusion, American and Soviet officials, distracted by concerns elsewhere, favoured which factions seemed likely to restore order and promote their interests. 3 The occupation force was comm anded by General John R. Hodge 4, who was faced with rival groups identifying themselves as representing the new Korean government. Hodge however turned to former Japanese officials to administer the country. As the Japanese were expelled from Korea, the US military relied on a variety of collabor ators to maintain law and order. Prominent nationalists and members of the anti-Japanese resist ance formed a provisional government 5, but at least half of them were Communists.  By the end of 1945, the Americans backed Syngman Rhee, one of Korea’s most famous exiles. Having studied in Harvard and Princeton, Rhee had left Korea a second time in 1910 and lobbied for Korean independence for the next 35 years. To General Hodge, Rhee was an ideal candid ate since he was not tainted by collaboration with the Japanese; was staunchly anti-Communist, and spoke perfect English. Once it was evident that Rhee enjoyed the backing of the military government, the conservative leaders fell in line behind him. 6  To the north, under Soviet guidance and supervis ion, a network of People’s Committees was formed. Together with these People’s Committees, the Soviet Union also established a Soviet Civil Administration from October 1945. Terentii Shtykov 7 was the main proponent of setting up a centralised structure to coordinate Korean People's Committees. In Februa ry 1946, these committees met in Pyongyang and established the People’s Assembly of North Korea. Kim Il-sung, another Korean exile, was elected its chairman. Opposed to the Japanese occupation, Kim had fled to the Soviet Union during the war. After his installation in the north, Kim advocated wholesale la nd reform and began suppressing all opposition to Communist rule.8 Despite these differences, Kim and Rhee had many things in common: both were ardent Korean nationalists, both claimed the right to lead the entire country, both were determined to end the occupation with its artificially imposed dividing line at the 38 th parallel, both would prove unpredictable in their actions, and each utterly despised the other.9                                                               2 Jeremy Isaacs and Taylor Downing, Cold War, pp. 93-95. 3 Gaddis, We Now Know, p. 70. William Steuck, The Korean War: An International History, pp. 19-23. 4 General John Reed Hodge (1893-1963) was the military governor of South Korea under the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) between 1945 and 1948. His troops landed at Inchon under orders of General MacArthur and received the surrender of all Japanese forces in Korea south of the 38th parallel. 5 This provisional government was called the People’s Republic of Korea. It later operated in opposition to American occupation in the south and was forcibly dissolved in early 1946. 6 Max Hastings, The Korean War, pp. 32-33. 7 General Terentii Fomich Shtykov (1907-1964) was the head of the Soviet Civil Administration in North Korea and later served as the first Soviet ambassador to the country (October 1948 - December 1950). 8 Isaacs and Downing, Cold War, p. 96. 9 Gaddis, We Now Know, p. 70.

Hwa Chong Institution (College) Paper 1 Theme I: Understanding the Cold War, 1945 -1991 How was the global Cold War fought? 3  In November 1947, the UN General Assembly recognised Korea’s independence and established the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK). In January 1948, the United Nations called for free elections in both North and South Korea. The Soviet Union rejected any UN involvement, and elections eventually proceeded in the south in May. An insurgency broke out in April on Jeju Island which gave rise to a wave of anti-Communist sup