War and Justice: Just Cause of the Korean War

This paper explores the question of just war theory as it applies to the Korean War by relying on the work of Michael Walzer. In the first section, I discuss this issue with regards to the initiation of and intervention in the Korean War. North Korea violated the principles of just war by fabricating its invasion as a response to South Korean aggression. The U.S. intervention in the Korean War was a defensive war for the United States and the free world rather than a war defending South Korea alone. The U.S.S.R. violated legitimate procedures of just war, by covering up its involvement through deception. China’s intervention was based on presumptive assumptions that the war in North Korea was a threat to China’s state security and that the United States could attack China. In the second section, I examine the issue of justice in war conduct. Walzer emphasizes that the engaged states should seriously consider the means used to win a battle no less than the victory itself. This paper examines this issue by considering civilian casualties from U.S. air bombing and the execution of members of the National Guidance League (Gungmin Bodo Yeonmaeng). This paper concludes, based on the discussion of the above two issues, with a judgment on the responsibilities for the intervention in and the waging of the Korean War.

keywords: war and justice, Korean War, just war theory, Michael Walzer, intervention in the Korean War, civilian casualties

Reference

Cumings, Bruce. 1990. The Roaring of the Cataract, 1946-1950. Vol. 2 of The Origins of the Korean War. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Goulden, Josept C. 1982. Korea, the Untold Story of the War. New York: McGraw Hill Book Co.

Halliday, Jon. 1979. “The Korean War: Some Notes on Evidence and Solidarity.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Studies 11.3: 2-17.

Hong, Xuezhi. 1992. Jungguk-i bon hanguk jeonjaeng (Chinese Perspective on the Korean War). Translated by Hong In-Pyo. Seoul: Koreaone.

Jeong, Huisang. 1999. Idaero-neun nun-eul gameulsu eopso (I Cannot Close My Eyes like This). Seoul: Dolbegae.

Ju, Yeoug-bok. 1990. Nae-ga gyeokkeun joseon jeonjaeng (My Experience at Korean War). Seoul: Koreaone.

Khrushchev, Nikita. 1990. Khrushchev Remembers: The Glasnost Tapes. Translated by Jerrold L. Schecter. New York: Little Brown and Company.

Kim, Dong-Choon. 2000. Jeonjaeng-gwa sahoe (War and Society). Seoul: Dolbegae.

Kim, Myeonggi. 1983. “Kukjebeopsang hanguk dongnan-ui beopjeok gujo-e gwanhan yeongu” (A Study on the Legal Structure of the Korean War from the International War Perspective). Myeongji daehakkyo nonmunjip (Myeongji University Papers) 14: 161-191.

10.

Kim, Suo. 1991. “Hanguk jeonjaengjung miguk-ui daeyuen jeongchaeck: jeonjaeng-ui jeongdanghwa gwajeong-eul jungsim-euro” (The U.S. policy towards the UN during the Korean War: A Focus on the Process of Justification of the war). Master’s Thesis, Seoul National University.

11.

Park, Myung-Lim. 2002. Hanguk 1950, jeonjaeng-gwa pyeonghwa (Korea in1950: A Reflection on War and Peace). Seoul: Nanam.

12.

Suh, Hee Kyung. 2010. “Atrocities before and during the Korean War: Mass Civilian Killings by South Korean and U.S. Forces.” Critical Asian Studies 42.4: 553-588.

13.

Suh, Hee Kyung. 2012. “Hanguk jeonjaeng-eseoui ingwon-gwa pyeonghwa: pinanmin munje-wa gongjung pokgyeok sarye-reul jungsim-euro” (Human Rights and Peace in the Korean War: With a Focus on the Refugees and Air Bombing Cases). Hanguk jeongchi yeongu (Journal of Korean Politics) 21.1: 205-230.

14.

Torkunov, Anatoly Vasilievich. 2002. Hanguk jeonjaeng-ui jinsil (The Truths of the Korean War). Translated by Huh Nam-Sung and Lee Jong-Pan. Seoul: Research Institute for National Security Affairs, Korea National Defense University.

15.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea (TRCK). 2008a. “Ulsan gungmin bodo yeonmaeng sageon” (Case of the National Guidance Alliance in Ulsan). In 2007 nyeon habangi josa bogoseo (Review Report in the Second Half of 2007). Seoul: TRCK.

16.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea (TRCK). 2008b. “Jeju yebi geomsok sageon” (Case of Preventive Detainees in Jeju Island). In 2007 nyeon habangi josa bogoseo (Review Report in the Second Half of 2007). Seoul: TRCK.

17.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea (TRCK). 2009. “Gyeongji jiyeok migun pokgyeok sageon” (Case of the U.S. Forces Bombing in the Gyeonggi Area). In 2008 nyeon habangi josa bogoseo (Review Report in the Second Half of 2008). Seoul: TRCK.

18.

Truman, Harry S. 1956. Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope. New York: Doubleday.

19.

Walzer, Michael. 1977. Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations. New York: Basic Books.

20.

Walzer, Michae. 2004. Arguing about War. New Haven: Yale University Press.

21.

Weathersby, Kathryn. 1995. “To Attack, or Not to Attack? Stalin, Kim Ilsung, and the Prelude to War.” CWIHP Bulletin 5 (spring).

22.

Weathersby, Kathryn. 2002. “Should We Fear This? Stalin and the Danger of War with America.” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Working Paper No. 39.

23.

Yang, Kuisong. 2001. “Bukhan-ui hwajeon yangmyeon jeongchaek-gwa geu seonggyeok (1948-1950)” (The Beginning and End of the Dispatch of China Troops to Koran War [1948-1950]). In Hanguk jeonjaeng-gwa jungguk (Korean War and China), edited by Kim Kee Joe, 47-80. Seoul: Baeksan Publishing.

바로가기메뉴

Article Contents

Vol.52 No.2

War and Justice: Just Cause of the Korean War

Abstract

Reference

Korea Journal