Since the war, Korea has remained divided along the DMZ. North and South have remained in a state of conflict, with the opposing regimes both claiming to be the legitimate government of the whole country. Sporadic negotiations have failed to produce lasting progress towards reunification.

What effects did the Korean War have on Korea’s land and people? After the war, Korea remained divided into two countries. In North Korea, the communist dictator Kim Il Sung established collective farms, developed heavy industry, and built up the country’s military power.

Korean civilian casualties – dead, wounded and missing – totalled between three and four million during the three years of war (1950-1953). The war was disastrous for all of Korea, destroying most of its industry. North Korea fell into poverty and could not keep up with South Korea’s economic pace.

After three years of a bloody and frustrating war, the United States, the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea agree to an armistice, bringing the fighting of the Korean War to an end. The armistice ended America’s first experiment with the Cold War concept of “limited war.”

One of the significant results of the Korean War was that it gave the US reason to increase its military expenditure four-fold. Under Truman, military expenditure increased rapidly, laying the foundations for the so-called military industrial complex that existed throughout the Cold War.

Fearing that the Soviet Union intended to “export” communism to other nations, America centered its foreign policy on the “containment” of communism, both at home and abroad. Indeed, Asia proved to be the site of the first major battle waged in the name of containment: the Korean War.

On June 24, 1950, the North Koreans invaded South Korea. A few days later, Truman ordered U.S. troops to the aid of South Korea and convinced the United Nations (UN) to send military aid as well, in what was referred to in diplomatic circles as a “police action.”

Approximately 150,000 troops from South Korea, the United States, and participating U.N. nations were killed in the Korean War, and as many as one million South Korean civilians perished. An estimated 800,000 communist soldiers were killed, and more than 200,000 North Korean civilians died.

The United States came to the aid of South Korea at the head of a United Nations force composed of more than a dozen countries. Communist China joined North Korea in the war in November 1950, unleashing a massive Chinese ground attack against American forces.

The Communists took over China becasue they got large finanical aid from the Soviet Union and they got lots of support from the people of China. After the war, Korea became divided when the North was influenced by Communist China and the South was influenced by the U.S.