The Korean Conflict began June 25, 1950. The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union opposed South Korea and the United Nations. The UN force was made up of troops from South Korea, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, The Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and the United States.

In 1895 the Japanese took control of the Korean peninsula, annexed it in 1910, and maintained control of it to the end of WWII.  In August 1945, at the end of WWII, the Soviet Union declared war on the Japanese and invaded northern Korea, honoring a commitment they made to the U.S. to help fight the Japanese. A month later President Harry S. Truman ordered U.S. forces into the southern half of the peninsula. The Japanese were defeated. As agreed upon earlier, the country was divided at the 38th parallel between the Soviet Union and the U.S. The Soviet Union and the U.S. could not agree upon a government for all of Korea. The Soviet Union wanted a Communist dictatorship. The problem was referred to the United Nations.