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Summary:
- Based on the appropriate archival collections, official documents, and various published materials, this dissertation is an investigation of American diplomacy in Korea from 1945 to 1953. Between the end of World War II and the close of the Korean fighting, the United States moved from a limited interest in Korea to a substantial involvement in that nation's affairs.
Korea's liberation from the thirty-five years of Japanese colonial rule came on August 15, 1945, with the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. Just before the Pacific War ended, the United States proposed, and the Soviet Union accepted, the temporary division of Korea at the 38th parallel as a means of disarming local Japanese forces on the peninsula. American troops occupied the southern half of Korea up to the dividing line, facing a Soviet-occupied North Korea. This temporary military division became permanent as cold war politics came to dominate the policies of the United States and the Soviet Union.
Unable to arrange a settlement with Russia for the reunification of divided Korea, the United States referred the Korean problem to the United Nations. The Soviet refusal to cooperate with U.N.-supervised elections in Korea led to the emergence of two rival Korean governments. This development completely destroyed any chance for a peaceful reunification.
The outbreak of the Korean War forced the Americans into an unwanted military involvement in Korea. Although the United States seemed to have ruled out its defense of South Korea on strategic grounds, when the aggression actually occurred, the American leaders unanimously agreed that larger political considerations made South Korea's defense unavoidable. The United States interpreted the Communist attack in Korea as part of a worldwide pattern of Soviet expansion and immediately sent in the American troops available in Japan. The United States also took the issue to the United Nations Security Council and, in the absence of the Soviet representative, obtained sanction for and assistance in providing military aid and troops to the Republic of Korea.
America's initial objective in the Korean conflict was to restore South Korea's border at the 38th parallel. The United States had no intention of completely destroying the enemy forces. After the Inchon landing, however, the United States decided to cross the parallel and unify Korea through military action. This change of policy prompted the Chinese Communist intervention in the war. The massive Chinese attack forced the Americans to give up any idea of unifying Korea by military means. After Communist China's intervention, the official American policy was to negotiate while fighting as hard as possible to drive the aggressor out of South Korea.
The search for an armistice in Korea threatened to degenerate into an American-sponsored coup against Synagman Rhee. The armistice did not settle the Korean question. It was merely a military agreement to stop fighting at the battle line. The military demarcation line ran slightly north of the 38th parallel. The South Korean government agreed to accept the cease-fire only after the United States promised a mutual defense treaty as well as economic aid for reconstruction.
This study concludes that United States diplomacy in Korea during the years under review was successful in pursuing American national interest of containment in that country. The United States had achieved its political objective of denying South Korea to the Communists.
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Language Notes:
- Item content: English
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Dissertation Notes:
- Thesis. Ph.D. ― University of North Texas, 1981.
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General Notes:
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-03, Section: A, page: 1285.
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Physical Description:
- 297 pages
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OCLC Numbers:
- 1053121706
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Other Control Numbers:
- AAI8118099 (source: UMI)