S3: What factors made Korea vulnerable and appealing for military occupation? What geopolitical factors in the 20th century led Korea’s invasion and occupation in June 1950?

The primary factors that made Korea appealing for military occupation in the 20th century was its location as a tenable foothold on the peripheral of China, its relatively weak military, and its long shorelines which made for difficult coastal defense. The Chinese exerted influence over Korea for centuries before 1900, however with the loss of the Sino-Japanese War, China was cowed by modern Japanese naval and army forces. The Japanese, seeking natural resources and a source of cheap labor, occupied Korea by force and forced them to sign Japan-Korean Annexation Treaty. Fehrenbach describes how the Korean governing body signed the treaty under duress before they could receive American intervention in Chapter 2 “Crime of Marquis Ito.” The Japanese waged a brutal war against the Korean intelligentsia which was largely ignored by the West until the outbreak of hostilities at Pearl Harbor in December of 1942. The Japanese worked the Koreans into the ground for three decades, removing the educated, the wealthy, and the patriotic through open violence and empowerment of those who would support Japanese rule.

As the war rushed to a conclusion in 1945 American planners realized that they could not hold Korea in its entirety due to the onslaught of Soviet forces pushing the Japanese out of Manchuria. Planners agreed the 38th Parallel was an adequate divider to appease Soviet and American interests. By 1948, North Korea and South Korea were both established and supported by the Soviet Union and United Nations respectively. America was the primary United Nations host nation invested in South Korea with army forces trying to reestablish civil functions over a country bled of educated and wealthy citizens who would otherwise established governance. Fehrenbach describes the efforts of these American service members in Chapter 3 “To Make a War.”

The Soviet Union, intimidated by America’s newly established nuclear capability and firm commitment to western Europe’s freedom, decided that the best place to encroach on American interests was in Korea. The Korean American Advisory Group, or KMAG, was woefully unprepared and highly optimistic with Korean military forces. The shoddy equipment, obsolete surplus equipment from WWII, was not adequate to block an armored attack supported by artillery and mechanized infantry. The Soviets saw Korea as a limited conflict that would not inspire a nuclear counterattack by America; furthermore, it would damage Americans’ military superpower status gained by the recent victories of WWII and use of nuclear weapons against Asiatic peoples. The Soviets underestimated American resolve to protect Korean democratic efforts in South Korea with conventional land, air, and naval forces.