The Korean War

Although the war did not actually begin until June of 1950, the circumstances that led to it began long before. By the mid1940s, Goncharov et al. (1993) reported that Kim Il Sung was already determined that Korea would be unified, and that it had to be unified by force. At that time, Kim was training in the Soviet Union, and he and many of the men he trained with provided the backbone of the North Korean government and military for many years.

Essentially, Kim was supported by the Soviet Union, and had stronger ties with that country, although China also supported North Korea in the struggle. His early training and his connection with Stalin were important determinants of his actions. Still, Kim basically acted on his own in attacking South Korea in June of 1950. The Soviet Union and China both knew that Kim intended to attack South Korea, but they did not know when or in what way (Goncharov et al., 1993).

There is considerable evidence that the United States also knew that North Korea intended to attack South Korea, and even some indication that the intelligence community had an idea of when that would occur (Stone, 1952). The