Nation Building in Korea

Abstract

Korea was of little strategic significance to the United States when World War II ended. While the United States provided civil and military aid to South Korea from 1945 to 1950 it repeatedly sought to disengage itself from the peninsula and to devote resources to more urgent strategic problems. The North Korean invasion in 1950 wedded South Korea to the United States and confronted the United States with the enormous task of nationbuilding. The inherent difficulties of this task were compounded by a number of factors: US global security responsibilities; USIROK disagreements; and basic inexperience. Although the Korean economy did not take off until President Syngman Rhee was ousted from office US aid from 1945-1960 helped lay a foundation for the Korean economic miracle that began in the 1960s.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA424921

Entities

People

  • Thomas W. Callow

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Department Of State
  • Economic Development
  • Foreign Aid
  • Governments
  • International Organizations
  • Military Assistance
  • Military Budgets
  • Money
  • National Politics
  • New York
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Second World War
  • Students
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.