The Korean War was a rare tragedy in modern warfare. There were more civilian deaths than there were military losses.
So far, my book has been very interesting. The George Company was thrown together from untrained recruits and World War II veterans, when North Korea’s invaded the south in 1950. When they went ashore at Inchon, most of the men had never seen combat and barely knew how to handle their weapons. But their arrival tipped the balance for the barely holding on South Koreans. It began an offensive that drove the North Koreans nearly to the Chinese border by late October. That's when the Chinese army entered the mix. That invasion set up George Company’s defining moment. Surrounded by overwhelming numbers near the Chosin Reservoir, the company held out with strong determination to protect a vital intersection and haven for other units. General Oliver Smith’s response, when asked if his men would retreat, showed their resolve: “Retreat, Hell; we’re just advancing in another direction.” The Korean war is still important to modern day conflicts between North and South Korean. The two countries have been trying to repair their realtionship, using a variety of methods to do so. According to Britannica, "At the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, North and South Korean athletes marched together (though they competed as separate teams) under a single flag showing a silhouette of the Korean peninsula. (The countries also made a joint appearance—with separate teams—at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens but failed to reach an agreement to do likewise at Beijing in 2008.)" Despite this, relation between the two countries are anything but consistent. The love-hate relationship has been evident ion the mass propaganda from both sides, along with the occasional threat or comment via twitter. Britannica also explains, "The death of Kim Jong Il in December 2011 and the subsequent elevation of his son Kim Jong-Eun to the country’s leadership brought greater uncertainty to relations between North and South. In the years immediately following, North Korea once again instituted dramatic escalations of its rhetoric against the United States and South Korea, including verbal threats of missile attacks against both countries." These threats have continued to be evident through 2016 and 2017. This uncertainty is largely due to how the Korean War had no clear winner. The USA, China and the Koreas were tried of the bloodshed, and both sides pretty much just gave up. After the South Koreans got pushed back, nothing REALLY happened. War prisoners went back to their nations, South Korea got some extra land, and that was it. In general, the indecisiveness of that war, led to today's rivalries.
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