Let’s Learn about the Cold War: Part 6 - The Korean War Published Aug. 5, 2015 By Senior Airman Sean D. Smith Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- In 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States, allies at the time, freed Korea from Japanese imperial rule and occupied North and the South Korea, respectively. Two separate governments were created. Each government believed itself the legitimate one, and neither of them accepted the border between them. Political conflict turned to war in 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. The Korean War was one of many proxy wars during the Cold War, in which the United States and the USSR provided resources to conflicts representative of the ideological battle between American and Soviet interests - without directly going to war with each other. The North Koreans were backed by the Soviet Union and China. With the blessing of the United Nations Security Council, the United States and Great Britain supported South Korea. Initially, the U.S. wasn't prepared for action in Korea. Tensions between West and East were running high, and President Truman worried North Korea's invasion was a Soviet diversion intended to occupy American resources so the USSR could stage a larger war in Europe. Truman wanted to protect the South Koreans from forceful communist subjugation, and he also had to protect American interests in Japan. Once he was convinced the USSR would not commit Soviet troops on the ground, he agreed to support South Korea directly with American forces. Getting involved in Korea showed the West had learned from World War II to reject a policy of appeasement when confronted with aggressive expansion. Also, China had just adopted a communist government. If Korea became united under Soviet and Chinese influence, Japan could be next -- stopping the North Korean invasion was essential to Truman's strategy of containing the spread of communism. The Korean War was a notable theater for air warfare, with extended bombing campaigns from UN forces and numerous dogfights between jet fighters in the infamous MiG Alley, where Soviet built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 jet fighters faced off with North American F-86 Sabres. The North and South Koreans, both with the help of their respective backers, fought the war to an extremely costly stalemate. The war never ended; in 1953 the Armstice Agreement called for an end to the fighting, and North and South Korea remained divided. They are still technically at war. While the outcome is considered a draw, Western intervention was a success in the sense that North Korea's invasion did not succeed, and communism was prevented from spreading to South Korea. Next Time: Mao Zedong