Background to Korean War

After World War 2, the Korean peninsula was divided at the 38th parallel, USSR, controlled the northern half, while America controlled the southern half.

A group of Korean nationalist formed the Korean People's Republic (KPR) which became popular and communist. Kim Il-Sung, a Korean guerrilla leader from the 1930s, emerged as the leader of the pro-Soviet KPR in North Korea. Kim Il-Sung later won the communist elections in North Korea and was trained by the USSR. In South Korea, Syngman Rhee, American Military Government (AMG) spokesman who was supported by the USA, won the UN-sponsored elections on 15 August, 1948, forming the Republic of Korea (ROK). North Korea did not participate in this election and formed its own government, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

ROK and the DPRK developed their military forces, except that Russia supplied armor and aircraft to Pyongyang, while USA only left a small army behind. Kim Il-Sung wanted to unify Korea, and got support and approval from the USSR to invade South Korea. So, when Syngman Rhee boasted that he would invade North Korea, North Korea started to invade South Korea on June 25, 1950.(Kim Il Sung top, Syngman rhee on the bottom)

-Yuxiang