The 1953 armistice left both Korean states in existence. Choose an actor, identify its aim, and compare that aim with the result and its costs.
Which aim are you using to judge the outcome?
Kim: reunify under northern rule
- Kim launched the invasion to bring the South under his government.
- The South survived, while Chinese intervention helped prevent the North's defeat.
Kim did not achieve military reunification. His state survived, but that was a smaller result than the aim with which he began the invasion.
Surviving defeat is not the same as achieving the original aim. The result also came after immense destruction and dependence on outside help.
USA: protect the South
- Intervention prevented North Korea from conquering the South.
- The later advance into the North failed to reunify Korea under a non-communist government.
The initial aim of containment succeeded in the limited sense that the South survived. The larger aim pursued during the advance north was not achieved.
Weigh the result against deaths, destruction and continuing military commitments. Meeting an aim does not establish that the cost was acceptable.
China: prevent a hostile frontier
- The advance through North Korea brought hostile troops towards China's border.
- Chinese intervention helped preserve North Korea as a neighbouring communist state.
China prevented the collapse of its neighbour and kept hostile forces farther from its frontier. That met an important security aim, at heavy cost.
Keeping a neighbouring state as a buffer did not remove American forces from Korea or end the hostility. A success against one aim was not a complete political victory.