Unequal Partners in Peace and War: The Republic of Korea and the United States, 1948-1953 / Edition 1

by Jongsuk Chay

Overview

The United States and the Republic of Korea have managed to forge a strong working relationship both in wartime and in peacetime, despite an inequality in power between them, through fulfillment of their respective responsibilities. Chay explores how Korean and American actions and inaction affected relations between the two and within the international context of the Korean War. He focuses on how and why war might have been avoided or resolved differently as a result of poor choices and missed opportunities. Using Korean sources, as well as Chinese and Russian materials, this study provides valuable new insights into the relationship between these two unequal powers.

The course of the Korean War swung like a pendulum powered by two outside interventions: that of the United States, made largely due to the symbolic value of Korea; and that of China, an action taken mainly for security reasons. Chay identifies key actions, including the division of Korea along the 38th Parallel, the 1949 troop withdrawal, and the failure to build an adequate military and economic deterrent in the South, as events that, had they not occurred, might have influenced the final outcome of the conflict. Restraint on the part of the United States and China and the role of the Korean peninsula as a geographic buffer zone ultimately prevented either side from gaining control of the entire peninsula, resulting in a stalemate. While issues of relative strength and weakness hindered U.S.-Korean cooperation after the end of the Second World War, once war came to the region the two powers built a successful partnership that addressed the national interests of both parties.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275971250
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/30/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

JONGSUK CHAY is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Pembroke.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Prelude—The Korean-American Relations to 1948
Korea and the United States before the Second World War
The Two-Nation Relations During the Second World War
U.S. Military Occupation of South Korea
The Critical Two Years
Establishment of the Republic of Korea
The Policies of the Two Republics
The U.S. Troop Withdrawal Issue
Economic and Military Aid
The Four Episodes
War and Diplomacy in Korea
The Nature and Responsibilities for the Outbreak of the War
The War
War-Time Diplomacy
Peace-Making and Diplomacy
Armistice Negotiations
Korean Reaction and Armistice
The Aid Diplomacy and the Korean Domestic Politics
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

This second of three volumes addressing Korean-American relations during the period from 1860 to 1961 focuses on the years from 1910 to 1953, with an emphasis on the seven critical years of the formal diplomatic relationships between the two republics. Chay (history, emeritus, U. of North Carolina-Pembroke) gives special attention throughout to how the two different and unequal partners dealt with one another through times of peace and war. Addressed are national interests, power, geopolitics, ideology, culture, and personality. The two years preceding the Korean War are treated in more depth, with close attention paid to diplomacy, war strategies and battles, and peacemaking. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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