The Korean War

MANIFESTATION OF REALISM IN THE KOREAN WAR
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The Korean War, fought from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953, was an armed conflict between the China and Soviet Union- backed Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the United Nations and U.S.-backed Republic of Korea (South Korea). The genesis of war goes back to the conclusion of the Pacific War after the Second World War, whereby a truce among the Allies resulted in the division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea. The U.S military forces continued to occupy the Southern territories while the Soviet Union occupied the northern territories. When the North's army invaded South Korea, the U.S. and the United Nations came to the South's rescue. After the defeat of the Northern forces, the subsequent presence of the Soviet Union in the North led to the establishment of a communist government, while the South, in tandem with U.S./Western interests, established a right-wing government that promoted a liberal/capitalist economy. A critical consideration of the circumstances surrounding the division of Korea and the Korean War, however, suggests that the outcomes in both cases were influenced by the quest for global hegemony by the world's rival super powers of the time, the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Whereas the Soviet Union was advancing communist ideologies in East Europe and parts of Asia, the U.S. was eager to stop the spread of communism by supporting countries that were willing to promote capitalism. This essay argues that the Korean War was not solely about political differences between the North and the South, but to a large extent, a result of an emerging cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in their quest to promote capitalism and communism respectively.
The classical realist perspective proposes that states are motivated by self-interests in all cases of international relations and conflicts. The realist model argues that the actions of sovereign states in the international arena are not motivated by altruistic interests, but a result of well-calculated strategies aimed at promoting a country's self-interests. The involvement of the U.S in the Korean War illustrates this reasoning. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Soviet Union was emerging as the Big Brother of Eastern Europe and many parts of Asia, most notably in china where communist had already taken root. Besides South Korea, Japan was the only other potential Western ally that could counter Chinese and Soviet Union influence in the East Asian region. In view of East Asia affairs experts who were advising then U.S. President Harry Truman, Japan “increasingly appeared as the major East Asian prize to be protected”. Consequently, a politically stable Japan and non-hostile Korea, Japan's neighbors, was critical to U.S. interests in the region. It became necessary, therefore, to intervene in the war to secure the stability of South Kore...