TERMS AND GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR FILM COLD WAR: KOREA, 1949-53

Kim Il-sung (1912-1994): communist leader of North Korea from 1948 until his death, at which time his son Kim Jong Il took power.  Kim's given name was Kim Song-ju, but he took the name of fallen guerrilla fighter during the war with Japan. Syngman Rhee (1875-1965): first president of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and first Korean to receive a Ph.D. degree from an American university (Princeton, 1910).   He had been in China during WWII, but he returned with US occupation forces.  Rhee's own rule has been viewed in history as a brutal one.  He died in Hawaii while in exile. Joseph Stalin (1879-1953): Bolshevik revolutionary and supreme leader of the Soviet Union after 1922 until his death. Inchon: coastal Korean city near Seoul and site of a daring UN amphibious landing on September 15, 1950, which marked an early turning point in the Korean war.

Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964): US Army general, who served as military advisor in the Philippines from 1935-41, supervised the US-led post-war occupation of Japan, and led the UN forces against the North Korea. Yalu River: natural boundary between China and North Korea. General Matthew Ridgeway (1895-1993): MacArthur's successor as Allied Commander in the Pacific, and supervisor of US withdrawal from the occupation of Japan in 1952. Kaesong: site of cease-fire agreement negotiation for the Korean Conflict. An armistice signed at P'anmunjom on July 27, 1953, that separated the armies with a demilitarized zone, but otherwise left many issues unresolved.

#1. Why did the end of World War Two and the withdrawal of the Japanese military not result in peace for the Korea Peninsula?

#2. Why did Stalin become involved in the DRK (North Korean) leader Kim Il-Sung’s June 1950 attack on the Republic of Korea (South Korea)?

#3. What was MacArthur’s greatest military success?  What was his greatest military miscalculation?  Why was he finally dismissed from his leadership position and replaced by General Ridgeway?