Nationbuilding in Korea

ISBN: 1288294042

Author: Callow, Thomas W

Condition: New

Korea was of little strategic significance to the United States when World War II ended. While the United States provided civil and military aid to South Korea from 1945 to 1950, it repeatedly sought to disengage itself from the peninsula and to devote resources to more urgent strategic problems. The North Korean invasion in 1950 wedded South Korea to the United States and confronted the United States with the enormous task of nation building. The inherent difficulties of this task were compounded by a number of factors: US global security responsibilities; US/ROK disagreements; and basic inexperience. Although the Korean economy did not take off until President Syngman Rhee was ousted from office, US aid from 1945-1960 helped lay a foundation for the Korean economic miracle that began in the 1960s.