On June 25, 1950, the Republic of Korea invaded the Democratic Republic of Korea under the leadership of Kim Il-Sung. The attack began around 3 or 4 AM in Ongjin and was a declaration of war. During the war, 10 percent of the population was either killed, wounded or missing, while 600 000 of homes combined in North and South Korea were destroyed. William Stueck argues in his book, Rethinking the Korean War, that had only intensified and militarized the Cold War. This paper thus answers the question, how have historians explained the origins of the Korean war? There are two arguments made by historians about the origins of the Korean war. The first argument posits that it was the close relations between the Soviet Union, North Korea and China,
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and Lowe, William Stueck argues that the origins of the Korean war was not a result of Soviet and Chinese support to an unprovoked North Korea, but rather on the interaction between internal forces and external ones. Stueck writes that after June 25 1950, Korea became “a war of broad international dimensions” because ever since the American’s defeated Japan, the peninsula had been “a setting for intense great power competition.” This competition emerged from the power structure in Northeast Asia with Japan’s defeat and the two contrasting ideologies of the United States and the Soviet Union. The lack of indigenous political institutions or a skilled population in self-governance as a result of Japan’s tight control over the peninsula coupled with a divided independence forces. Korea was deeply divided prior to the intervention of the United States and the Soviet Union, particularly among those who were exiled and those that remained at home. Unlike the United States and the Soviet Union, Koreans wanted were against the idea of a long term division of the country and the leaders of independent governments, which were established in 1948, were more dedicated in uniting Korea at an earlier date. Therefore, it was because of these internal forces that set the stage for a polarized
and Lowe, William Stueck argues that the origins of the Korean war was not a result of Soviet and Chinese support to an unprovoked North Korea, but rather on the interaction between internal forces and external ones. Stueck writes that after June 25 1950, Korea became “a war of broad international dimensions” because ever since the American’s defeated Japan, the peninsula had been “a setting for intense great power competition.” This competition emerged from the power structure in Northeast Asia with Japan’s defeat and the two contrasting ideologies of the United States and the Soviet Union. The lack of indigenous political institutions or a skilled population in self-governance as a result of Japan’s tight control over the peninsula coupled with a divided independence forces. Korea was deeply divided prior to the intervention of the United States and the Soviet Union, particularly among those who were exiled and those that remained at home. Unlike the United States and the Soviet Union, Koreans wanted were against the idea of a long term division of the country and the leaders of independent governments, which were established in 1948, were more dedicated in uniting Korea at an earlier date. Therefore, it was because of these internal forces that set the stage for a polarized