Causes of Conflict of North & South Korea:

[Killing of 46 Sailors]

North Korea protested by saying that it will rip up the military pact aimed at preventing naval clashes with South Korea in the midst of mounting tensions in the region in view of anti –submarine drills carried out by South Korea to detect intrusions. After an international probe, Seoul blames Pyongyang for secret under water torpedo activity that sank one of its vessels and killed 46 sailors in the month of March. But the North Korea vehemently denies the allegation and warned of war in necessity. A massive rally was held in Seoul to denounce Pyongyang’s threats. It also fears that the conflict could be accidently escalated.

The Korean War (1950-53):

It was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea under UN and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea supported by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), with air support from the Soviet Union. The war began on 25^th June 1950 when North Korean forces invaded South Korea. The UN resolution condemned the North Korean aggression. On 25 June 1950 American President Truman ordered US Air and Sea Force to support South Korean Army. The general simultaneously ordered the 7^th US Fleet to move to the Taiwan Strait to protect the Nationalist Republic of China in Taiwan. General MacArthur stopped the advance of North Korean Forces and attacked Pyongyang with heavy bombing. The War continued by the Military Force of North Korea backed by Chinese army supplied with Soviet arsenals. In the event of superior US weapons North Korea took the offensive to attack US Force in small groups. More than 300,00 (three lakhs) Army enhanced with Chinese force attacked the US Force. General MacArthur was very much disturbed by the huge number of North Korean Forces. He thought that if the war continued there will be hips of human slaughter. He was thinking of culmination of Korean War with Atom bomb. There was fierce fighting between South Korean Army supported by UN, US and North Korean Army supported by People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Soviet Union. The war tactics followed swift infantry attacks followed by air bombing raids and trench warfare. Finally the war ended on 27^th day of July in 1953 by an agreement carrying out a political division of Korea. The division of peninsula took place along the 38^th parallel, with United States troops occupying the Southern part and the Soviet troops occupying the Northern part when the country failed to hold free elections. It was a sad chapter and repetition of such war in the 21^st century no one wants.

Korea was a Colony of Japan:

Korea was an industrialized colony of Japan as it is under Japanese administration since the beginning of the 20^th century. In 1937, the then colonial Governor-General, Jiro Minami, tried a cultural assimilation of 23.5million people of the colony by banning Korean language, literature, and culture, to be replaced with that of the Japanese. In 1939, the people were compelled to use Japanese names. During World War II, Japan utilized Korea’s food, livestock, and metals for their war efforts. To control Korea effectively, Japan had to increase its force of soldiers from 46,000 in 1941 to 300,000 in 1945. Millions of Korean laborers were forcefully recruited for the service in the Japanese Emperor. By January 1945, Koreans comprised 32% of Japan’s labor force. In August 1945, the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed millions of Japanese soldiers out of which 25% of the people were Korean labor. At the end of the war, the world powers did not recognize Korea and Taiwan as the territory of Japan.  After the end of Second World War, the threat of communist expansion was increasing in the South East Asia. The cold war between the two superpowers US and Soviet Union was continued. In the advent of attack of South Korea by the North under the patronage of China and Russia, the President of US and the government of US decided to resist it. According to them if the communists were permitted to enter into the Republic of Korea without opposition, no small nation would have the courage to resist threat and aggression by stronger Communist.

No appeasement but Fight the Invasion:

June 24, 1950, US Secretary of State Dean Acheson informed President Truman by telephone that the North Koreans have invaded South Korea. President after a discussion with Secretary of States and defense Department agreed to the obligation of repelling the military aggression, paralleling it with Adolf Hitler’s 1930s aggression and said that the mistake of appeasement must not be repeated. According to him fighting the invasion was essential to stop the expansion of communism in the Globe. He said “Communism was acting in Korea, just as Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese had ten, fifteen, and twenty years earlier. I felt certain that if South Korea was allowed to fall Communist leaders would be emboldened to override nations to our own shores”. President Truman announced that the US would counter “unprovoked aggression” and extend full support to UN Security Council in its effort to terminate this serious breach of peace. Korea was accepted as the point of place “for drawing the line” against communist expansion.

End of Japanese Rule in Korea:

After the fall of Japan in the 2^nd World War, the peninsula Korea was occupied by the Soviet Union in the North and the United Sates in the South. The line of demarcation was the 38^th parallel. There are some significant dates the analysis of which would reveal the importance of Korean peninsula. August 15, 1945, the date on which Japan surrendered in World War II, and that was the end of Korea under Japanese Rule, August 22, 1945, the date that denoted the entry of Soviet Union to Pyongyang, and September 8, 1945, the date at which United States entered Seoul. All the dates were in a small span of two months time indicating the importance of Korea in between the indirect fighting of big powers. The end result was the bifurcation of Korea and the Nation was subjected to rule under the compulsion of two isms- Capitalism in the South and Communism in the North. The residents of both the regions were emerged in the atmosphere of war and fighting. To day both the nations become the victim of fighting spirit. Once the Koreans were brothers but the two isms have made them enemy to each other.

North Korea can resist US Attack:

North Korea is a small nation compare to America. It has its own secret of defense. It has built up all its military facilities underground to withstand American bunker- buster bombs. It is estimated that North Korea has 8,236 underground facilities that are linked by 547 km of tunnels. The capital City Pyongyang has a huge underground stadium and huge facilities for underground storage for wartime use for about 1.2 million tons of food, 1.46 million tons of fuel, and 1.67 million tons of ammunition.  It was a fact that the sophisticated weapons were instrumental in the victory of United States in the Gulf War, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. But again the strong Army of United States was defeated by weak and ill-equipped Army in Korea and Vietnam. These wars showed that Army with superior weapons does not always lead to victory. Superior tactics and dedicated fighting spirits sometimes also bring the joy of victory.

Weapons of Mass Destruction:

North Korea has already acquired weapons of mass destruction as it has been developing nuclear weapons since 1980. Now North Korea is a nuclear state along with US, Russia, China, the Great Britain, France, India, Pakistan and Israel. It has shown its success in missile delivery. William Perry, the then US Secretary of Defense (1994) had estimated that North Korea would have about 100 nuclear warheads by 2000. Recently this has been confirmed by Dr. Kim Myong Chul, an expert of war plans. North Korea has more than 100 nukes including hydrogen bombs and large stockpile of biochemical weapons as reported in different sources. North Korea’s Army has their own secret design in placing these missiles in hidden caves and underground launching pads. Now US have no fool-proof information of North Korean missiles as the activities were undertaken since long in underground. In case of War, North Korean missiles might cause a huge loss to American soldiers.

 Tragedy of Humanity:

There was heavy loss of life in three year time period of cold war in Korean peninsula which was unparallel in human history. It was estimated from different sources that US: 36,940 killed, PVA: 1,500,000 killed, KPA: 520,000 killed, ROK: 415,000 killed, total civilian killed 3,000,000. Seeing the heavy casualty, at one time President Truman thought of using atomic bomb to end the war in Korea. President was shocked with the everyday casualty figure. On 11 April 1951, Commander-in-Chief Truman relived the controversial General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander in Korea, of duty. MacArthur inflicted major losses of American Force by mistaken decision of crossing the 38^th parallel. MacArthur felt total victory and wanted to use nuclear weapons at his own decision bypassing the orders of the President and violating the US Constitution. President Truman was pessimistic of a truce and orderly withdrawal from Korea.  In 1945, the division of the Korean Peninsula brought the attention of the world to Korea. A civilian government was formed first in South Korea in 1948. The proclamation of North Korea was made on September 11, 1948, under the supervision Soviet forces.

Reconciliation:

The leaders of North and South Korea realized a need for friendship between the two parts of Korea after a long period of hostility of war. North & South came to an understanding to end the Korean War and accordingly on December 13, 1991, an agreement was signed to declare officially the end of Korean War. Since 2000, different inter Korean summits were held to improve the South-North relations, peace on Korean Peninsula, common prosperity of the Korean people and unification of Korea. On October4, 2007, the leaders of South and North Korea signed a peace declaration to end the Korean War with a permanent peace treaty.

Conclusion:

The sinking of ship and killing of 46 sailors of South Korea has brought the old hostility in front. The probe of international community for torpedo activity and the denial of allegation by North- both carry justification and demand a rational approach for reconciliation. The division of a country is shocking to the peace loving people of the country and the division of community is pathetic where a family is divided and suffered the rest of the life. A country can be divided for political, social or other reasons physically but not in culture or reasons of biology involving genes and chromosomes. It requires hundreds of thousands of years to bring a cultural and biological division of change. The division of Germany into East and West Germany, the division of India into Pakistan and India including the division of community of State Punjab into East Punjab and West Punjab, Bengal into East Bengal and West Bengal, division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea- all carries human misery. The civilization of 21^st century must rise to the occasion of reducing the human misery which rests mainly with the leaders and statesman of the country and the community. Forgetting the past bitterness reconciliation is the need of the hour as the weapon of peace to usher the common prosperity of the Korean people.