Situation of NKorea & Skorea

SKorean naval ship sinks near NKorea; 40 missing

By JEAN H. LEE, Associated Press Writer – Fri Mar 26, 6:03 pm ET

SEOUL, South Korea – Word that a South Korean naval ship sank in the tense waters around the disputed maritime border with communist North Korea set off panic: The president convened an emergency meeting and the military dispatched a fleet of ships.

Five hours later, 58 sailors had been pulled to safety but some 40 others were missing, reports said. There was no indication early Saturday that North Korea was to blame for the ship's demise, but troops kept a vigilant watch.

Seoul's panic attack — hours after North Korea's military threatened "unpredictable strikes" against the U.S. and South Korea — highlighted the fragility of peace on the divided Korean peninsula.

The two Koreas remain locked in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

Since then, the two Koreas have fought three bloody skirmishes in theYellow Sea waters. And in January, North Korea fired about 30 artillery rounds not far from Baeknyeong; the South Korean military fired 100 warning shots in response.

The 1,200-ton "Cheonan" was on a routine patrolling mission near South Korea's Baeknyeong Island on Friday night with 104 crew members on board when the ship began taking on water, Rear Adm. Lee Ki-sik of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters.

Unidentified military officials told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that an explosion tore a hole into the rear hull, shutting off the engine, wiping out the power and quickly taking the ship down. A number of crew members jumped into the water, Yonhap said.

Six naval ships and two coast guard vessels, as well as helicopters and ambulances, rushed to save the crew, Yonhap and military officials said. Troops scanned the skies for an attack, at one point firing shots at what officials later speculated was a flock of birds.

President Lee Myung-Bak, meanwhile, convened a late-night emergency meeting with his defense minister and other top military officials. After three hours, and no conclusion about what caused the ship to sink, they agreed to meet again Saturday, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said..

Nearby Baeknyeong Island, four hours by boat from the South Korean port of Incheon but just 10 miles (20 kilometers) from North Korea, was turned into a triage center, with islanders helping to treat injured crew members, according to cable network YTN.

A naval official told Yonhap there were deaths among the sailors, and YTN said some 40 crew members were missing. However, military officials told the AP they could not confirm deaths, and said 58 sailors had been rescued, with two airlifted for emergency medical treatment.

The waters around Baeknyeong island are rocky, and some senior government officials speculated that the sinking may have been an accident, not an attack, South Korean media said.

"It's looking more and more like it was just an accident that happens on a ship," Carl Baker, an expert on Korean military relations at the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank in Honolulu, said by telephone.

He said Pyongyang was unlikely to attack the far more powerful South Korean military.

"The South Koreans are so much more capable these days than the North that it would be difficult for the miscalculation to happen because I think the North understands its lack of ability," he said.

President Lee ordered the military to focus on the rescue operation, he said

Using this article as a source, we can see that so many years after the start of the war, the tensions between the two Koreas still remain high. Also, we see that North Korea is still very much against US, this could be because North Korea is communist and US is not, or can also show us that US intervention in the Korean War had left a strong and deep mark on North Korea. Perhaps the US had intervened too much.

-Yuxiang

consequences of korean war

The Korean War was the first armed confrontation of the Cold War and set the standard for many later conflicts. It created the idea of a limited war, where the two superpowers would fight in another country, forcing the people in that nation to suffer the bulk of the destruction and death involved in a war between such large nations. The superpowers avoided descending into an all-out war with one another, as well as the mutual use of nuclear weapons. It also expanded the Cold War, which to that point had mostly been concerned with Europe.

The Korean War damaged both Koreas heavily. Although South Korea stagnated economically in the decade following the war, it was later able to modernize and industrialize. In contrast, the North Korean economy recovered quickly after the war and until around 1975 surpassed that of South Korea.[citation needed] However, North Korea's economy eventually slowed. Today, the North Korean economy is virtually nonexistent while the South Korean economy is expanding. The CIA World Factbook estimates North Korea's GDP (PPP) to be $40 billion, which is a mere 3.34% of South Korea's $1.196 trillion GDP (PPP). The North's per capita income is $1,800, which is 7.35% of South Korea's $24,500 per capita income.

A heavily guarded demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the 38th parallel continues to divide the peninsula today. Anti-Communist and anti-North Korea sentiment still remain in South Korea today, and most South Koreans are against the North Korean government. However, a "Sunshine Policy" is used by the controlling party, the Uri Party. The Uri Party and President Roh, the South Korean president, have often disagreed with the United States in talks about North Korea. The Grand National Party (GNP), the Uri Party's main opposing party, maintains an anti-North Korea policy today.

The war affected other nations as well. Turkey's participation in the war helped it become a NATO member.[citation needed]

According to a September 7, 2007 NPR report, U.S. President George W. Bush stated that it is his administration's position that a formal peace treaty with North Korea would be possible only when the North abandoned its nuclear weapons programs.[79] According to Bush, "We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will end — will happen when Kim verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons."[80] Some have characterized this as a reversal of Bush's stated policy of regime change with respect to North Korea.[81]

At the second Inter-Korean Summit in October 2007, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il signed a joint declaration calling for international talks towards a peace treaty formally ending the war.

-Yuxiang

interferences---what extent?

Our group feels that the extent of interferences during the Korean War was high.
Firstly, we can already see that there were a number of countries and organization(the UN, which indirectly included many other countries) had been involved. This made the Korean War more "globalized", and not just restricted among Korea. Also, we can see that countries like US had spent quite a sum of money on the War, this may mean that intervening was very important to them, so thus the extent would have been quite great.

A possible extension of our research, could be on the intervention in the present time. Instead of focusing on the extent of intervention during the actual war itself, we can look at how other countries get involved in the situation between north and south Korea. For example, from the recent clashes between north and south korea, we can investigate the stand other countries take regarding the situation.

-Valerie.

Resources expended on War

CHINA:
70% of the forces of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) were dispatched to Korea as the Chinese People's Volunteers (accumulated to 2.97 million) and with more than 600,000 civil workers.
Total deaths: 148,000
-114,000 died in combats, incidents, and winterkill
-21,000 died after being hospitalized
-13,000 died from diseases
-380,000 were wounded

There were also 29,000 missing, including 21,400 POWs, of whom 14,000 were sent to Taiwan, 7,110 were repatriated.

China spent 6.2 billion yuan in the war and owed US$1.3 billion to the USSR.

KOREA:

-290,000 casualties
-90,000 POWs.
Figures for casualties in North Korea are not available.

UNITED STATES:
-1.17 million troops sent to Korea
-33,000 were killed
-108,000 wounded
-3,700 captured.
- 53,000 died due to getting killed or in hospitals

-US$20 billion directly in the war.
-US$64 billion in total including war preparation and aid for South Korea.

Note that this was in 1953, "converting" the value now, it would be around $535 billion dollars.

We can see from these figures, that the US's expenditure was very high for the war, and this money was not that worth it as they really did not manage to win the war. The large armies sent from the US and China also showed us the magnitude of the war, it became on a much larger scale, if there was no intervention.

-Valerie.

Lessons of Korean War

The antagonism between the North Korean and South Korea spilled into direct warfare in 1950. At the end of the war, more than 3 million Koreans died while millions of refugees remained homeless and distressed. About 2 million Chinese and 55,000 Americans died in the war.

Because of the serious consequences, many countries involved in the Korean War learnt valuable lessons.

America learnt that there were risks associated with the policy of containment. More than 1 million people died in the Korean War and what initially began as a confrontation with North Korea quickly got out of hand when China, the country with the world’s largest army, intervened. America underestimated the Chinese. American troops ignored Chinese warnings and got too close to the Chinese border. In October 1950, 200,000 Chinese troops joined the North Koreans. These troops had been taught to hate the Americans and were prepared to die for Communism. They also had modern weapons supplied by the USSR.

America also learnt that even though it was by far the most powerful country in the world there were limits to its power. Containment was a policy that had its limitations. It was okay when they attempted to contain the spread of communism but when America tried to go further and force the Communists out of North Korea, it did not expect the rapid escalation that followed.

If America wanted to confront communism, it had to proceed with caution. The American General-in-charge, MacArthur, was sacked by President Truman because he wanted to free South Korea, remove the communists from North Korea and then carry the war on into China. He even asked for permission to use nuclear weapons, which was rejected as this could easily have sparked a world war.

Other countries also leant not to underestimate China. Because of China’s intervention in the Korean War in 1950, it was proved that China was a major military power that the other countries, in particular, America, should not have ignored. The Korean War proved that the Chinese military was not afraid, and had planned to stand up to a world power like America.

The Korean War also tells us that smaller countries wren not always controlled by the superpowers. America, Russia, and China were drawn into the war started by North Korea. However, smaller countries were able to use the Cold War to achieve their own aims. Thus our group agrees that the Korean War was a “proxy war”, so that the two superpowers, America and Russia, were able to avoid a direct conflict with each other by using a third party, Korea. We can also tell that due to this, many countries intervened in the Korean War so as to achieve their aims. Thus, to answer our inquiry question, yes, the extent of interference in the Korean War was large. One such evidence of this would be China's interference in 1950.

-Sharmila.

V
March 1951 – 1953

In mid-1951, with the land battle in stalemate, both sides agreed to go to a conference begin armistice talks. They dragged on for two years. The main point they argued about was the future of the tens of thousands of communist prisoners held in camps on Koje Island off the coast of South Korea.

While the communist negotiators wanted all to be returned to their country of origin, thousands of prisoners were unwilling to be repatriated. There were several great mutinies in the Koje camps. In the end, those who wanted to be repatriated would be allowed to go home and while the others would go to an asylum.

In July 1953, thousands of former prisoners on each side were returned. A Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) was established on the border. Both sides withdrew from their fighting positions, and a UN commission was set up to supervise the armistice.

MacArthur was also sacked when he publicly criticised Truman’s order when Truman told MacArthur to stop.

In 1953, Eisenhower became the American president.

The Americans threatened to use the atomic bomb if China did not stop fighting. The Chinese agree to a truce, which was signed on 27 July 1953.

It is estimated that 10 million people died in the war - as many as died in the First World War.

-Sharmila.

IV
February – March 1951

The UN forces recoiled in disorder and defended a line well to the south of Seoul. The soldier's morale was low but the new field commander, General Ridgway, managed to advance slowly north in the spring of 1951. They used bombers. The Chinese admitted to losing 390,000 men dead - UN sources put the figure at up to a million Chinese and half a million North Koreans dead.

The Americans drove the Chinese back, but lost 54,000 American soldiers dead doing so.

MacArthur reached the 38th parallel in March 1951.

Then, Chinese launched their spring offensive. The British 29th Brigade narrowly escaped annihilation on the Imjin river as the 27th Commonwealth brigade on the central front beat off savage Chinese attacks. The UN line managed to survive, then moved north again. This time, there was no reckless advance into the north. The line stabilised in the general area of the 38th parallel and the remaining two years of fighting consisted of near-static operations as both sides fought from heavily fortified positions, using artillery, mines and wire to deny the enemy access to strategically important ground.

-Sharmila.