A civil war, a great power conflict or a cold war engagement which label

suits the Korean war of 1950-1953 best Discuss.

Korean War of 1950-1953 describes the period of the war from the start till
its end. Great power conflict would refer to a war between China and US.
My argument is that from the start, through the development and till the
end, the Korean War is all along a Cold War, its engagement because the
rationale for the war is rooted fundamentally in the Cold War, its
development was shaped primarily by Cold War concerns, and its endings
was delayed with Cold War considerations.
The reason for the outbreak of Korean War was that of Cold War and not a
civil war. Even though it was Kim II Sung who brought up the idea of
starting a war wit the South Korea to reunify Korea, it was not allowed to
start until Stalin gave him the green light. Following the defeat of the
Kuomintang by the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese civil war in
October 1949, the White House already changed its foreign policy
regarding Asia to that of containment of Communism. As such when
Kim approached Stalin in January with the idea of war, despite having the
Soviet position strengthened by events in China and the founding of their
own atomic bomb in September 1949, Stalin rejected him as the likelihood
of US intervention in the war was too high. It was only after US special
Envoy, John Foster Hulles directly rejected Sigman Rhees request of
protection from the US when he visited Seoul in early June 1950 did Stalin
allow Kim to go ahead with the war in 25 June 1950. The closeness in
dates of the two events shows that theres a direct relationship between
the two events. His refusal was extra significant because it corresponds
with the two earlier defense perimeter speeches made by General
MacArthur and Dean Acheson in March 1949 and January 1950
respectively. In both speeches, South Korea was excluded from Americas
defensive perimeter in the Pacific which ran only from the islands of
Philippines to the Mauritius. For a fact that Cold War considerations had
taken precedence over the civil ones, the Korean Was has its roots in the
Cold War and not a civil war.
The Korean War is not so much of a great power conflict than a Cold War
engagement because the concern of the Americans was all along with the
Soviets and not the Chinese. The US entered the war because Truman
and other US policy makers assumed that the Korean War was part of a
master plan for Soviet expansionism. The Americans were afraid that with
the fall of Korea into Communism, especially with China already in the
hands of the Communists, subsequently, other Asia countries might also
one after another turn Communist. Besides the fate of Korea, Truman was
more concerned about the larger picture of the Cold War. As the Korean

War was seen as a litmus test of US credibility in the eyes of her Western
European and Japanese allies, USs inaction might engender a mood of
defeatism in her allies and hence improve the standing of USSR in the
Cold War. At the point of the time, China was not even involved. If not for
General MacArthurs insubordination and his personal decision to push the
North Koreans to the Yalu River, the demarcation separating China and
North Korea, the Chinese would not even be involved in the War. Even
after the Chinese entered the war, the focus of the Americans was on
securing the defense of South Korea. Not a single attack was directed at
China. Hence, it is cannot be argued that the Korean War is a superpower
conflict and a cold engagement still remains a best labeling for the Korean
War.
Last but not least, the Korean War was lengthened by 2 years due to the
Cold War despite Kims desire to end the war when it reached a standstill.
On July 1951 onwards, both sides had officially reached a military
stalemate as neither party can advance into each others territory any
further. On a number of occasions from July 1951 onwards, Kim asked
Stalin to make peace wit the UN because North Korean was suffering badly
under the bombardment of the US. Yet Kim insisted on holding on to the
war because it was to the Soviets advantage that the Americans are tied
down to the war with their resources draining. Even though peace talks
had been called for in a teahouse at Kaesong, armistice for a long time
could not be reached because both sides could not come to an agreement
over where the Prisoners of War (POW) should go. The US insisted that
the POW should be given a choice regarding which country they want be
repatriated to while the Chinese and the North Koreans rejected the idea
and insisted that they must go back to where they come from. The
insistence of both sides was due to the ideological aspect of cold war. The
Americans was determined to use this issue to prove the superiority of
Capitalism and democracy over communism. They knew that if the POWs
were to be given a choice, they would choose to join the capitalist side,
thus debunking the communist claim that communist is a socialist
paradise. The fact that this relatively trivial choice lengthened the
Korean War by a considerable amount of time of two years shows that the
Korean War is part of the Cold war engagement more than anything else.
In conclusion, the Korean War from 1950-1953 was part of a Cold War
engagement and not a civil war, nor a great power conflict. Should it be
argued that Korean War was a civil war, Kim should have went ahead with
starting the war when Stalin clearly rejected him in January 1950 for a
simple reason that the sovereignty of a country should never be
compromised by the interest of another country, in this case USSR. For a
mere engagement because China played a minimal role in influencing the

war and she was not the primary opponent of the US. Furthermore, even
when Kim wanted to end the war because millions of Korea lives are being
lost and the war was going nowhere, it could only be done under the
decisions of the superpower. As such, through it all, the Korean War can
be seen as primarily a cold war engagement and thus it labels the Korean
War best. Fact that he did not, and he even subjugated the national
interest of the North Korea to the Soviets, in the first place, shows that
civil concerns were not the reason for the war but Cold Wars is. The
Korean War was less of a great power conflict than a cold war.