Immediate Cause of the Korean War

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or most commonly known as North Korea was instituted in the year 1948 after World War II when the United States of America together with the Soviet Union divided the control. Wherein, The United States of America controlled the southern region and on the other hand the Soviet Union controlled the northern region. Two years later with the help of the Soviet Union, North Korean leader at that time Kim Il-Sung attempted to seize the southern region of Korea leading to the Korean war that lasted for 3 years. A war wherein the willingness to lend a hand by the Philippines to a friend who is in need of help was proven when they sent 7,420 troops after the UN asked for reinforcement. In this war it showcased the bravery of Filipino soldiers that even though they were outnumbered by their enemies, they were able to defeat 10,000 Chinese soldiers with only 1,000 of them. And one of these soldiers even became the 12th President of the Philippines, Fidel V. Ramos. Not only did the Filipino soldiers extend help in the war but also they helped in rebuilding the country from the aftermath of the war. And in the year 1953, after 3 years of bloody war, The Republic of China, North Korea, The United States of America and South Korea had agreed to an armistice, but South Korea did not sign, in an intent of reunification. Thus the peace conference resulted in no peace treaty between the two nations. More than 60 years have passed but still the war hasn’t ended, there haven't been any shots fired but it doesn’t mean it was officially over because without the peace treaty between the 2 nations, the war still continues till to this day.And in this case we would like to point out and give a careful analysis on the Deadly Combination Theory regarding the North Korean government. Before, with minimal information out in the public regarding the country, it entices curious minds around the world on how it is inside the one-party state. But over the years, some “Defector” or North Koreans who were able to escape and seek refuge in other countries have shared their experience and their knowledge of the country. In an article published by the BBC in July 2019, some North Korean defectors have come forward to give insight on what it is like to live in North Korea, one of which said “There was very little food [in North Korea] and I felt hopeless”. But with this level of poverty, the country still was able to fund its experiments on developing nuclear weapons and was able to manufacture and supply missiles to other countries. Furthermore, in the article published by the UN News in 2019, Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that, the right to food, health, shelter, work, freedom of movement and liberty are universal and inalienable, but in North Korea they depend primarily on the ability of individuals to bribe state officials. Abuse of power by higher officials is widespread in the country, they deprive North Koreans of their rights and drain them up until the last drop. Moreover, on the 2019 Corruption Index by the Transparency International, North Korea scored 17 points out of 100, 0 being very corrupt and 100 meaning very clean. Certainly, the conflict between South and North Korea had tremendously brought catastrophic events and casualties to the people that resulted in the continuous separation of their country. Eventually, this war never ended, as these two countries have fought so fiercely for so long, in the end, they never see who clearly holds the victory between them. As we have done some readings and research regarding this Korean War, we realized many sacrificed their lives to fight and defend themselves. For instance, there were 217,000 militaries and 1,000,000 South Korean civilians missing and were killed. Moreover, there are 406,000 militaries and 600,000 North Korean civilians who also went missing and were killed. Definitely, this war had caused a big impact on the economy of Korea and its people. Therefore, as we try to deepen our knowledge regarding the conflict between these two countries, it eventually led us to some observations. Thus, we had contemplated that there are many factors why this conflict existed. Those factors are the political differences of both countries, the division and invasion of territory, and their engagement in proxy wars. To start, our first observation on the conflict of both sides was their political differences. These two countries had cultural similarities and share the same language but then they differ from their political ideologies. North Korea was a communist country while South Korea was a non-communist party. Their political structure was different from each other. For this reason, their opposing ideologies have grown so deep which is one factor why their division is still there. This all started as an accident division as the United States and the Soviet Union had an agreement to divide Korea at the 38th parallel in the year 1945. Therefore, the United States had taken the southern part while the Soviet Union had taken the north. Their roots of political ideologies were rooted in those who had invaded them. As the Soviet Union was a communist state that is why the North has adopted their political structure. The same goes for South Korea, as the United States wants the south to be democratic and capitalist.

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Furthermore, the division and invasion of the territory of both sides. As North Korea was a communist country, they have planned to reunite Korea as a whole under communist rule. Thus, North Korea decided to invade the South. Eventually, South Korea fought back. As a result, this started a war. Definitely, the South had to fight back as they were oppressed and were forced to live under communist rule and we know that both sides had different political ideologies. This invasion had caused a greater conflict between them. This conflict arises as the South felt threatened for their territory by North Korea.Moreover, we observed the engagement of proxy wars of both sides. Wherein both countries don’t fight each other directly but indirectly through other countries. When South Korea fought back with the North, they were supported by the United Nations through the use of the United States troop. However, North Korea was supported by the Peoples' Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The war between the North and South but was played out by the other parties such as the United States, China, and the Soviet Union. Therefore, this war or conflict within these two countries has been caused by many factors, it's quite saddening that they both have grown further apart not just ideologically and even economically. If we will be going to apply these observations to the theories of the case, we discern that there is conflict on political differences because both countries simply have different ideologist (democratic from the south while communist from the north) and they also ostracize each other, the northern koreans insist reunification under communist rule but the southern people refute and contend to be under democratic rule. On the other hand, the division and invasion of territory by the DPRK was possibly occurring for how many years because of resources. The North Korean government is inclined in building more weapons but they are lacking funds to support the basic needs of their constituents such as food, health, shelter etc. hence, they try to invade territories for them to access more resources and earn power on their side, but accordingly, this is also impossible for the ROK or South Korean Government are firm as to their political ideology, so war occurs between the two. Down to our last observation, there is engagement of proxy wars of both countries because each has already developed strong allies outside their territory and again, they both lack resources so they collude with strong and developed countries for them to access weapons and even soldiers to be deployed in war. Hence, because of these political and economic issues, conflict arises between two different countries or political ideologies for primary and secondary resources are either being deprived to the people, or it is improperly managed by their government. This is simply telling us the concept of “no man is an island” because no country can survive without the help of another country (allies). Nonetheless, we have different political and economic ideologies/ beliefs but respect and honor should always be in place. War is not always the solution