Kim Jong-un might as well be the most powerful man in the world as right now he is holding the only superpower in the world at ransom and it seems that nothing can be done about it. Kim might not have any means of threatening the USA actively or passively, but he has just placed a gun on an American pet project. This is a project that has been a high priority for seventy years; the capitalist and the democratic republic of South Korea (Truman, 1949) . Even the most conservative commentators agree that the USA can easily beat North Korea even on North Koreas best day. However, Seoul and its ten million inhabitants would face near absolute doom before Pyongyang ever falls. Kim knows this very well hence his courage in standing up against the US military juggernaut, by far the most powerful military machine the world has ever seen. As diplomats canvass on what is going on and the way forward, historians have for decades been seeking to understand how Korea got to where it is now. How did brother come to rise against brother in a land that had almost always been historically united?
The historical answer to this question tells a story of how in 1945, a United Korea was taken away from its Japanese masters. Its rescuers, however, could by 1945 not agree on anything except their enmity for Japan. They, therefore, drew a line on the map and shared Korea between them. These rescuers are the USA and the Soviet Union which took the Southern part of Korea and the North Korea respectively (Central Intelligence Agency, 1948) . It is the interests of these superpowers and their Cold War policies that would eventually bring the Korean Peninsula into the crisis that it has been embroiled in for decades. At the advent of this crisis, this research paper will also canvass how the name United Nations came to be unanimous with the United States during the Korean War. This war was, in the beginning, referred to as a United Nations police action to protect South Korea from the aggressor, North Korea. Contemporary historiography indicates that the UN was an enabler for the USA during the creation of the Korean Peninsula crisis that pit the USA against the USSR.
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How a United Japanese Colony Became a Divided ‘Free’ Nation
Nye Jr, (1995) contends that “Analysts who ignore the importance of political order are like the people who forget the oxygen they breathe” (P. 91). While stating this, Nye is speaking in defense of the USA and their military expeditions that spread across the globe from the end of the Second World War to date. Nye even argues for the benefits that have accumulated based on the presence of these forces in Eastern Asia after the end of the Cold War. He admits that American forces are not deployed for the benefit of the native populaces but to protect the interest of Americans. However, he insists that the protection of the American interests also amounts to the protection of local interests. As evidence, Nye dangles the current economic resurgence in Eastern Asia, including Vietnam which he argues, has been made inter alia possible by US military presence which ensures political stability (Nye, 1995). From the perspective of Korea and the instant research paper, Nye is both right and wrong. He is right on the premise that enforced political stability can lead to massive economic development. Due in part to the demilitarized zone between the Koreas, South Korea has been able to rise into one of the most developed economies in the world. It has a powerful economy, a stable political system and one of the greatest manufacturing capabilities in the world. Nye is also wrong because of every night, the ten mission residents of Seoul, the capital of South Korea head to be knowing that tomorrow might never come for them, their great democracy and their great economy. It is the same process that created the extremely powerful Korea, which also created an extremely aggressive enemy for South Korea in the name of North Korea.
The end of the Second World War came with a clear victory for the allies who included Russia and the USA against the Alliance that among others included Japan and Germany. The losers lost their colonies with Japan surrendering the Korean Peninsula to the USA and Russia collectively. By the end of the Second World War, great acrimony had already begun to be seen between Russia and America based on their preference for communism and capitalism respectively. There was no way the two nations could govern any of the colonies they took collectively so they drew a line along the 38 th parallel that divided Korea into two. Russia took the North and USA took the South. They agreed to set up instruments of power and leave Korea to chart its own way forward. Both countries lied.
Instead, the two superpowers elected to use their side of Korea as an experiment for communism and democratic capitalism respectively. Both succeeded in setting up their kinds of governments in the two Koreas. With US help, South Kora begun rapid economic growth (Congress Bill No 748, 1949). When they left a few years later, they left such as divided Korea that conflict was inevitable and indeed imminent. The Korean War began in earnest when Communist North Korean, using Soviet tactics and weaponry attacked South Korea and almost instantly vanquished it. The North Koreas also had the material and tactical support of China and the Soviet Union (Krechetnokov, 2013) . Most of South Korea, including the Capital of Seoul, soon fell into North Korean hands. The USA had not armed South Korea for fear that it might invade North Korea (Central Intelligence Agency, 1949) . The southerners were almost hapless against the North Korean Army. The USA knew it had to intervene but it needed a diplomatic pretext to do so. It found a diplomatic avenue through the United Nations.
In Korea, the UN Becomes the US.
South Korea appealed to their US allies for help. This created a dilemma for President Truman who knew that North Korea was also supported by China and the Soviet Union (US National Security Council, 1948). However, the Chinese and the Soviets were not openly fighting in Korea hence there would be no justification for the US military machine to openly mobilize in Korea either. Further, US action might create the excuse that the Soviet Union and China would need to openly mobilize too. The US had to move in and help Southern Korea without being seemed to be actively involved in the war. Truman managed to convince the UN Security Council to pass a resolution providing for the creation of a military effort to save South Korea from the North Korean invaders. Truman called this a police action by the United Nations. However, when the forces were put together for the UN police action, over 80% of them were American soldiers using American military equipment and led by American General. As the military action begun, North Korea proved to be a formidable enemy and more forces were necessary (Bowers, 2010) . All extra forces were provided by the Americans. How many to send, who to send and what action to be undertaken was all decided from the White House and not from the UN Security Council . Looking back at the Korean War, it was a proxy war between Russia and China hiding behind North Korea against the USA hiding behind the United Nations.
The UN police action cum US military intervention was definitely too much for the North Koreans and they retreated from all sides until eventually, they crossed the 38 th parallel. At this point, any pretext of a police action was abandoned as the UN police action became an invasion of North Korea and went up to the outskirts of Pyongyang itself. The fall of Pyongyang would have created a unified communist and capitalist but it was never to happen. China and the Soviets decided that they would never win a proxy war when the US was actively participating (Krechetnokov, 2013) . They elected to actively participate too. The Chinese Army, using Soviet equipment and aerial support attacked the US-dominated forces, forced them across the 38 th parallel and occupied Seoul again. Suddenly, it seemed that a United Communist Korea might be created. Once again, the UN intervened for and on behalf of America through Resolution 498. It castigated China as the aggressor and ordered it out of Korea. China declined, arguing that the US was fighting in the War under the pretext of a UN police action. This was the eve of a global conflict other than for the level-headedness of President Truman. General McArthur, the UN commander wanted to follow the playbook the US had developed for when the Soviets of Chinese openly join the Korean War. This involved an all-out war by the US military machine including the use of nuclear weapons (The Executive Secretary, 1950). President Truman not only decline to sanction an all-out war but also fired the legendary General McArthur who kept on insisting on an all-out war, including vanquishing China. But with this restraint would come to the end of any hope of a unified Korea (United Nations Command, DPRK, PPR, 1953) . After so much pain and suffering together with the deaths of hundreds of thousands, the end of the war through an armistice left Korea exactly where it had begun; with a communist North supported by China and a capitalist South supported by the USA. South Korea excelled in commerce and industry building a powerful economic empire (Shin, 1994) . On the other hand, North Korea built a massive military machine unequaled in most countries in the world but its populace lacked even basic needs. The instability in North Korea, however, turned the great South Korean economy into a house of cards. If North Korea pulls one card and launches an all-out attack on Seoul, the entire house of cards would come hurtling down. This is the point Nye missed in Nye Jr. (1995).
The US-South Korea Relationship after the Korean War
Several scholars have looked at what happened in the aftermath of the Korean War. Many of them look at the relationship between South Korea and the USA based on how beneficial the same has been for the South Koreans. The article by Sungjoo (1980) is based on this perspective. Others look at the issue based on how precarious it has made the Korean Peninsula from the perspective of eventual peace. The article by Soon-Young (1999) is based on this perspective of looking at the issue. Sungjoo and Soon-Young may not agree about whether or not American influence has been good for the USA. Sungjoo is all praises for the achievements that America has enabled South Korea to have and also the sacrifices that America has undertaken for and on behalf of Korea (Sungjoo, 1980) . Soon-Young is more objective and looks at both sides of the coin. The good that American relations in Korea have done is indicated but also juxtaposed with the danger that still remains more so after North Korea commenced its nuclear program at the advent of the 1990s.
Sungjoo celebrates the USA sacrificing over 34,000 American lives and over US$ 18 billion, a staggering figure if adjusted to today’s dollars, just to save South Korea from the Korean invasion of 1950. The article then proceeds to indicate how, with American help, South Korea was able to build both a democratic government and a stable economy. With time, the democratic government of South Korea came of age, bringing with it the rule of law and a government selected by and working on behalf of the people. In the very same way, the South Korean economy also came off age and became self-sustaining and massive in almost all sectors (Shin, 1994) . All these is attributed, inter alia by Sungjoo to American intervention. This intervention is as a trading partner, financier and most importantly as a military partner. From the perspective of South and North Korean relations, Sungjoo does not also lack something positive to say about the Americans. Among the positive tributes include the one relating to President Nixon’s effort to commence bilateral talks between South and North Korea in 1972 (Sungjoo, 1980) . These talks have continued intermittently for years and as Sungjoo puts it, they have only failed because of the deep-rooted suspicions between the South and the North. This argument seeks to vindicate the USA from selecting the South and developing it while the North remains not only underdeveloped but also extremely poor. In this regard, therefore, Sungjoo gives America all the credit and also exonerates it from any adversities.
Soon-Young agrees with Sungjoo about the good that has come to North Korea, mainly because of close relations with America. However, Soon-Young also points out that the region is in grave danger because of the imbalances between the North and the South (Soon-Young, 1999) . The North has been working just as hard as the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953. While the South has been building a massive economy and a well-organized democracy, the North has been creating powerful dictatorships where the leader has almost all state power. Secondly, when the South has been building a powerful economy the North has been creating one of the most powerful military machines in the world. As at 1999 when Soon-Young’s article was published, one of the most worrying trends in the Peninsula lay in the increasing military capacity and saber-rattling of North Korea. Not only had North Korea developed the abilities to build a ballistic missile, but also begun what seemed like a very successful nuclear weapons projects. This was over and above millions of very well trained soldiers and a populace that falls under the absolute rule of a singular person. Further, Soon-Young indicates that in its kindness, the world had been feeding North Koreans who have been intermittently starving in droves (Soon-Young, 1999) . The North Korean government, having no longer the burden of taking care of people, focuses its energies on building its military arsenal.
It is easier to build than to destroy. As the recent Arab Spring proved to the entire world, it is possible for a leading economy that took decades to build to go into ruin in just a few months of crisis. Sungjoo is right about what the Americans have helped the South Koreans to achieve. The lauding of Americans for their sacrifice and the apologist approach when it comes to the North Korean problem is all right. However, Sungjoo misses the reality on how easily everything that South Korea has built can be destroyed. In 1950, North Korea overrun and occupied Seoul. Soon after, the Americans under General McArthur retook Seoul. In a few months, the Chinese overcame the Americans and took over Seoul once again. The Americans counter-attacked and once again retook the city of Seoul. Only that by the time the Americans retook Seoul a second time, it was no longer a city, but a ruin. This is the reality that Soon-Young brings out clearly. If a war breaks out, eventually the Americans will vanquish the North Korean Army, perhaps once again through a UN sanctioned police action. The main issue raised by Soon-Young, and correctly so, is what will be left of South Korea, by the time the US saves it (Soon-Young, 1999) ?
Conclusion
The US has been a good friend to South Korea but the same cannot be said for the entire Korean peninsula. It is because of the USA and the Soviet Union alongside their conflict relating to communism and capitalism that there are two Koreas today. Japan gave up a single Korea. Without consulting the locals, the Americans and Russians curved up Korea along the 38 th parallel. This led to a Communist North and a Capitalist South, creating the foundation for the modern conflict. The advent of the Korean War between the South and the North should have been a wakeup call for the Soviets and Americans that they were ruining Korea. Instead, the two sides perpetrated three years of extreme fighting which inter alia completely ruined the city of Seoul. The UN, which could have salvaged the situation took sides. The conflict was settled without unifying Korea. The North pursued communism and later dictatorship while the South pursued democracy and economic empowerment. As the South prospered and the Nouth failed, only one reality remains, the Korean Peninsula is in a great crisis as it was in 1950 when the Korean War was begun . As it was then, Seoul and its ten million inhabitants face the gravest danger.
References
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