Download During the last months of World War II, leaders from the United

CONTAINING
COMMUNISM
KOREA
After fighting from WWII (1939-1945) was over, the United States and the Soviet
Union (Russia) found themselves engaged in a Cold War. During the Cold War
there was no direct military fighting between the Soviet Union and the U.S. Instead, the U.S. and
Soviet Union competed about political ideas. They tried to get as many other countries in the world
as they could to support their type of government. The Soviet Union wanted other countries to be
communist like them. The United States wanted other countries to be democratic.
One place where this struggle was clearly seen was in the Korean Peninsula. At the end of WWII,
the Soviet Union was in control of the northern half of the peninsula and the United States
controlled the southern half. A peace treaty called for elections to be held to unify, or join, Korea
into one country. However, the countries fighting in the Cold War had their own plans for Korea.
The Soviet Union wanted a communist government, while the United States wanted a western
style democracy. Because they could never agree on how to elect a single leader for the whole
country, Korea was simply divided into two countries. North Korea became a communist country
supported by the Soviet Union and China. South Korea became a
democracy. The United States insisted on supporting a free South
Korea. They believed that if any additional countries in Southeast Asia
went to a communist form of government, others would quickly follow.
This idea was called the domino theory. The domino theory was the
belief that if one country fell to communism, other countries nearby
would fall to communism as well, just like a row of dominos.
War broke out between North and South Korea in 1950
in an attempt to unify the country. In order to make sure
that communism did not move into South Korea, the
United States helped South Korea during the war.
Making sure another country did not become communist
was part of America’s containment policy to contain or
keep communism from spreading to other nations in
Southeast Asia. After three years of fighting in Korea, a
truce (peace treaty) redrew the original boundary to
where it is still today. North Korea is still a communist
country. It also has an autocratic government ruled by
Kim Jong-Il. South Korea, however, with free elections
and a democratic constitution has become very
wealthy and successful.