Korean War

On This Day:
Wednesday June 26, 2013

This is the 177th day of the year, with 188 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: Korean War

The Korean War started out being between North Korea and South Korea. After World War II, Korea was hurriedly divided for administrative purposes at the 38th parallel. Almost immediately, the Soviets began a short-lived reign of terror in northern Korea that quickly politicized the division by driving thousands of refugees south. An independent South Korea became UN policy in early 1948 and southern communists opposed this, so warfare began in parts of every Korean province below the 38th parallel. The war became international in June 1950 when North Korea, supplied and advised by the Soviets, invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal participant, joined the war on the side of the South Koreans, and the People's Republic of China came to North Korea's aid. In 1953, Joseph Stalin died, and within weeks the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party voted that the war in Korea should be ended. After more than a million combat casualties on bo th sides, the fighting ended in July 1953 with Korea still divided into two hostile states.