Jin-Ho Lee

World History 10
Mr. Siaflas
14/1/13

How significant was Stalins Role in the outbreak of the

Korean War?

On the twenty fifth of June 1950, Kim Il-Sung the dictator of the north, with
the support of Stalin and the Soviet Union, invaded the south as an attempt to reunify
both Koreas under communist rule. Rhee Syngmans, president of the south, effort to
resist seemed futile. Yet the US/UN intervened and an international war broke out, the
Korean War. The bloody skirmish, which was planned to last three days, ended 1953
with casualties estimated at two million. The causes as to why the war broke out are
numerous, ranging from the after effects of World War II, where Korea was under
Japanese rule all the way to various immerging Cold War factors. Out of these Cold
War factors, Stalins Role in the outbreak is said to be very significant as he gave Kim
Il-Sung the trigger to start the invasion but the truth is different: his role in the
outbreak of the Korean War was very minimal compared to other causes.
Korea had a long history of foreign domination, the most notable one being
Japanese domination, which is very important to take into account when discussing
the causes of the Korean War as the situation Korea was in during World War II is
what led to the decision made by the US/UN and the Soviet Union in 1945. Korea
formally annexed by Japan in 1910 and during this time, the society of Korea and just
as well as its economy suffered irreparable damage. The living conditions of every
individual in Korea deteriorated down to the extremes, especially after 1937 when
Japan launched the Second Sino Japanese War against China. In theory, the people
Korea would actually enjoy the same status as the Japanese but instead they were
treated as no more than slaves and conquered people. (Savada) Japan executed their
initial colonial policy to increase agricultural production to meet the growing rice
demands and began building large-scale industries for economic self-sufficiency and
war preparation. Yet this brought no means of benefit to Korea. Virtually all industries
were owned by Japanese corporations and by 1942 and interest rates were 25% higher
than the average Japanese. Furthermore, farmland was gradually being taken over

since Korean farmers were forced to migrate to other colonies. Given that greater
quantities of rice were being exported, the food consumption per capita decreased
rapidly. By 1936, food consumption decreased by half as compared to 1912 and by
1944, it was 35% below that of 1912. (Savada)
Once World War II was over and Korea has finally achieved liberation in
1945, Korea was in an extremely weak state. Knowing of the history of foreign
domination Korea has suffered, the United States and the USSR, who were still allies
then, decided to lead Korea to independence. Unfortunately, Korea was split into two
at the 38 parallel, where the North was taken by the USSR and the South by the US.
Both the USSR and US had very different ways of making the two Koreas
independent though, which caused tension to rise and according to Sanders that the
the origins of the Korean War lay in these pragmatic military decisions taken in
1945, which became highly significant because of the development of the Cold War.
(10)
Over the period of four years, starting from 1945, the USSR and the US
created two very different Koreas: the north became pro-Soviet while the south
became pro-American, which in end effect was hugely significant to the outbreak of
the Korean War. Savada mentions that even before the arrival of the US military in
Korea in September 1945, the Koreans have already set up self-governing bodies or
peoples committees such as the Korean Peoples Republic or the Korean Provisional
Government but the US did not recognize any of these and instead forced military
government, which according to Ohn, was a disappointment for the Koreans who
wanted full independence. (23) Their northern counterpart on the other hand, were
much more cunning and skilfully granted the Korean Communists the right to rule
over other Koreans. Already then, Cold War tension started rising. (Smith)
1946, a Joint Commission was convened between the US and the USSR on the
issue of Korean reunification but it proved to be unsuccessful. The ideals of these two
superior powers clashed. If Korea were to reunite, the Soviet argued that it should
have a communist government loyal to the Soviet yet the US wanted to prevent
Russian domination over Korea and aimed for a four-power trusteeship over the
course of five years so Korea could finally be free of foreign domination. Additionally
the Truman Administration were scared that more communist success in Korea would
encourage the PRC to take action for communist invasion, which US would not be
2

able to protect. (Office of the Historian) During this time, the north and the south
were gradually growing politically apart due to extreme leftists or rightists. During the
UN General Assembly in 1947 also failed to bring up compromise and in 1948 the
Interim Committee decided to conduct elections only in approachable areas and thus
the Republic of Korea (ROK) was founded with Syngman Rhee as president. At the
same time, the North Korean Peoples Council adopted its own version of constitution
and founded the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) with Kim Il-Sung
appointed as the premier. (Ohn, 30)
With this, Korea was officially divided into two but this had a negative effect.
Cold War tension rapidly increased and the hostility between the two Koreas
increased further. Once Russia moved out from the North in 1948 and America moved
out from the South in 1949, the nationalist ambitions of Kim Il-Sung and Rhee
Syngman started clashing. Both wanted reunification under their own governments
respectively. Thus hostility grew. 1948, multiple Border Clashes occurred. While the
Soviet Union was supporting the North grow their military strength, the US limited
their support to the South so that Rhee could not execute his aggressive intentions
against North Korea. (Smith) Military imbalance was apparent and this encouraged
war, as Kim grew confident of being able to unify Korea under communist rule. At
1950, the tension between them was at its peak. Thus the immerging Cold War was
hugely significant to the outbreak of the Korean War as it was the Cold Wars
responsibility for distancing the two Koreas and creating extreme tension between
them. Had opposition between the US and the Soviet Union not existed and they kept
being allies even after the war, a single government for Korea could have been
decided upon and the war might have never occurred. Unfortunately due to US
statements and acts, Kim Il-Sung encouraged to start war.
The combination of US statements and acts, which in Sanders opinion were
unquestionably foolish (14), was also significant to the outbreak of the Korean War.
On the 12th of January 1950, Secretary of State Dean Acheson described the American
defence parameters. Any attack on any of the countries in these parameters would be
interpreted as an attack on America itself. (Smith) But Korea was not included. The
US made it clear that they still prioritized Europe rather than Asia. This firmly invited
the now militarily very powerful North Korea to go to war against the South as US

would not support South Korea. (Rogers) Even Stalin, who was reluctant to start a
war, thought attacking South Korea would be a good strategic movement.
Kim Il-Sung strengthened the military of the North tremendously to convince
Stalin invading the South would not be a problem. But Stalin still rejected the idea of
invasion multiple times. Todd even claims that it was Kim, not Stalin, who pushed for
the attack in June 1950. (95)
Stalins only action was giving Kim the permission to invade but even
without, Kim would have started invaded sooner or later. (Ohn) Stalin saw advantages
in the invasion especially after the US declared their defence parameters. He could
use the opportunity to start spreading Soviet influence throughout Asia and it would
start by gaining control of South Korea, which would secure the Soviet position in the
north-east Asian regions. (Rogers) Stalin gave Kim permission to invade but in no
means every encouraged invasion. Even without, Kim would have invaded the South
eventually thus making Stalins significance to the outbreak of the Korean War
exceedingly minimal.

Twenty-fifth of June 1950, a predictable yet gruesome war had started within
one country that has been divided into two due to various causes. Out of these,
Stalins participation to the outbreak was supposed to be critical yet this was not the
case as it was Kim Il-Sung who pushed for invasion. In fact, cold war factors ranging
from 1945 to 1950 were the most significant to the outbreak as it crucially split Korea
in two putting everything in motion. The war might have ended with a Stalemate on
the twenty-seventh of July 1953, yet tension between the two Koreas still exist even
in present days and an eruption of a second war is still possible and the aftermath will
be significantly different.

Word count: 1493

Works Cited
Office of the Historian. "The Korean War, 1950-1953." Office of the Historian. Ed.
Office of the Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
<http://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/KoreanWar2>.
Ohn, Chang-Il. "The Causes of the Korean War, 1950-1953." The Causes of the
Korean War, 1950-1953 (2010): 23-37. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
<http://www.icks.org/publication/pdf/2010-FALL-WINTER/3.pdf>.
Rogers, Keely, and Jo Thomas. History: 20th Century World : the Cold War. Essex:
Pearson Education, 2008. Print.
Sanders, Vivienne. The USA in Asia, 1945-1975. London: Hodder Education, 2010.
Print.
Savada, Andrea Matles, and William Shaw, eds. South Korea: A Country Study.
Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1990. Countrystudies. Web. 13
Jan. 2013. <http://countrystudies.us/south-korea/>.
Smith, Frank E. "The" ["Korea Divided"]. Macrohistory and World Report. Fsmitha,
n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. <http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch24kor.html>.
Todd, Allan. The Cold War. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011. Print.