Korean Job Discussion Forums

[C00LAS1CE]

Having lived in Korea for almost a year now I've thought a great deal about how this country serves as perfect example when arguing in favor of US intervention. I think most Americans feel that every war the US has started/intervened in the past century with the exception of WW2 and Korea has been a blunder, but does it make one a hypocrite to say that Vietnam was a huge mistake and Korea was justified? While both are Cold War conflicts, with US intevention (backed by coalitions) following the invasion of Soviet-backed communist forces of Western-backed capitalist countries, there are striking differences between the two, mainly:

- Intervention in Korea was authorized by the UN

- Intevention in Vietnam was based on a lie (Gulf of Tonkin)

- The French had already had their asses handed to them in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. This alone showed the strength and dedication of Ho Chi Minh's forces and should've been reason enough for the US not to intervene in Vietnam. There was no historical precedent for intervention in Korea.

Keep in mind my information is based on what I've learned from the brief coverage of these wars in my American history courses and Wikipedia, so I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing. Discuss.

[hondaicivic]

[Mr. Peabody]

[Slowmotion]

Vietnam war was stupid because we couldn't even officially go into North Vietnam. On top of that, the better trained and better equipped South Vietnamese troops were a bunch of sissies, the North and Vietcong fought relentlessly.

Similar situation for the Korea war. Funny how hard those communist troops fought just to live a crappier life. Look how it paid off for North Korea.

[Summer Wine]

[Fishead soup]

Both the Korean war and the Vietnam war were justified using the domino effect theory. If you watch old footage of American soldiers in Vietnam a common quote was" I'd rather be fighting them here than in Kansas"

Ironically the Comminist army of North Vietnam did domino. They defeated Pol Pot in Cambodia.

[Greenman]

I've always been more interested in the Vietnam war.



Better soundtrack.

[eamo]

I'm constantly amazed at how some Americans think it's justifiable to go to war because it looks like a country thousands of miles away will adopt a different political system to theirs.

[BoholDiver]

No one should predict the strength of an enemy based upon the performance of the French army.

JUst sayin'.

[southernman]

It's only called the Vietnam war in the west. Everyone in Vietnam calls it the American war.

That sums up what all Vietnamese think about it.

The Korean's who served in the Vietnamese war were ruthless and possibly the most feared of all the allied soldiers. Korea was/is strategically important. Vietnam was just warmongering to keep the arms maunfacturers and rednecks happy

[rollo]

Good post Southernman. The U.S.S.R. chose to use the North Koreans as proxies to tie up the U.S. Of course they would have loved to have had all of Korea to threaten Japan and to bully China.

Vietnam; our best general Maxwell Taylor thought it was a fool's errand. Just stupidity.

Eamo: think it through if the U.s. had not stopped Stalin you would not have a job.

[eamo]

[Fox]

[Fishead soup]

[eamo]