Why Did Truman Decide to Consider the Civil War in Korea as Part of the Cold War and as Evidence of Communist Aggression?

The famous Truman doctrine proclaimed on March 12th 1947 that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures" was one of the main reasons as to why Truman helped the South Koreans regain their land from the communist Northern Koreans and their Soviet counterparts.

By 1948, the communist Soviet's and the capitalist Americans agreed to a temporarily partitioning of Korea along the 38th parallel of latitude into a northern Soviet zone and a southern American zone. The two superpowers failed to reach an agreement on the conditions of reunification and thereupon permitted the establishment in their respective zones of a government that claimed sovereignty over the entire country.

The United States decided to back a local right wing elite land owner from the South called Syngman Rhee. The USSR sympathized with communist North Koreans and placed a local communist leader called Kim Il-Sung. This division of governments was not Ð''official', and a border on the 38th parallel was not in place, Koreans were allowed to move from North to South easily without any restrictions. However, as peaceful as it seemed, instability was increasing throughout the state. Problems between the Northern and Southern governments increased, and as each of the governments was armed by its foreign ally, war was inevitable.

On June the 25th 1950, over 100,000 thousand North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and into South Korea, claiming the land to belong to Kim Il-Sung's government. Within a time frame of just 48 hours, the North Korean army had captured the South Korean capital of Seoul on June the 27th. That same day, the UN Security Council was discussing a resolution facing the issue and how to help the South Koreans survive the attack. The UN session was going ahead without the Soviet delegation as the Soviets were boycotting the Security Council due to the invitation of China as a permanent member on the council. The US delegation was pushing for a resolution which permitted the use of force on the North Korean army and pushes them back into the North. President Truman wanted "to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security." The American army stationed in Japan was used in the fighting. At least 50% of the ground troops were American, 86% of the navy was American, and 93% of the air forces were American as well.

By analysing the above figures, we can clearly see that Truman's decision to intervene militarily in Korea was prompted by his conviction that the North Korean attack was a Soviet-inspired attack. The above percentages show clearly that this was more of an American war rather than a Southern Korean attack. Knowing that the US military had just emerged as the strongest army in the Cold War, attacks using the navy and the air force may have ended the war within a very short range of time.

However, Truman's reason to fight in Korea may not be as Ð''transparent' as it seems. Truman defended American attacks on the North Korean army with his doctrine, saying that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures." However, on the Ð''face' of the war, it seemed as if there was no Soviet order or influence on Kim Il-Sung to take out such an attack, but rather, it seemed understandable and reasonable that Kim Il-Sung may have wanted to eliminate Syngman Rhee's government and take control in both the Northern and Southern parts of Korea.

Furthermore, at that point of time, communism carried out in the Northern part of Korea, seemed to be better off for the Koreans, and many South Koreans hoped for such an intervention in order to adopt the communist system in the south in order for them to live a better life.

On the other hand, it is arguable to say that the Soviet's had a hand in this operation. We know for a fact that all the weapons used by the North Korean army were given by the Soviets. It was also known that Kim Il-Sung had lived in Russia for years, and had returned to Korea in the company of the Soviet liberation army in 1945. The North Korean army is also said to have cleared the attack with the Kremlin, meaning that Stalin was informed of the attack taking place