A backgrounder of the Korean conflict

World leaders lined up to condemn the hostilities in the Korean peninsula which caused the death of two South Korean soldiers and injured dozens more after North Korea shelled the island of Yeonpyeong. This is just eight months after the communist North sunk a South Korean warship which was also viewed then by many as an act of provocation by the Kim Jong-Il regime.

Technically, the war between the two Koreas, which goes all the way back to the 1950s, is still ongoing and only a Cold War-era armistice, which eventually separated the two states, is the thing that kept an all-out war from breaking out again although a few skirmishes have erupted in between.

For centuries, the Korean peninsula was under the influence of foreign powers including China and Japan. When the Second World War was nearing its end, the Soviet Union and the United States took their respective claim in the area as they tried to chase away the Japanese forces out of the country.

The northern part of the 38th parallel belonged to the Soviets in which they created their own communist state while the southern part came under American occupation. As the North became stronger militarily and economically under the guidance of the Soviets and communist China, they decided to invade the struggling South with the aim of unifying the two Koreas under a Marxist system.

The United States and its allies came to the South’s aid but found themselves not only fighting the North Korean army but also against the Chinese, who came to the side of its communist neighbor. As the war wore on, it eventually became unpopular among the American public and as the new Eisenhower administration took rein in Washington, it signaled the start of a possible end to the war.

After a final toll of 2 million casualties, a truce was signed setting the border back to its pre-conflict site at the 38th parallel. Until now, the area surrounding that zone is still one of the most militarized areas in the world as the two countries are still technically at war.

Today, South Korea is among the world’s economic powers and a leader in exports and technology advancement. North Korea claims itself as a military state and has constantly been under scrutiny by the international community for its armed nuclear programs and human rights abuses.

It is quite understandable that the North will provoke such incidents, like the one that just happened in Yeonpyeong because the basis of their existence is essentially to achieve military victory. What is crucial is how the South will respond and how long its patience will last from the constant bullying by the communist regime.