South Korea in the Korean War
There was always tension between South Korea and North Korea but having North Korea cross the 38th parallel without informing the South. As they were being invaded, the US decided that they should help them to stop the spread of communism. South Korea was in a dire need of troops as their capital was taken over and North Korea kept taking over. Thankfully, the US sent in troops. Both side suffered many casualties and the war ignited the beginning of the Cold War. Because their leader, Syngnam Rhee, was too focused on eliminating other political opponents instead of North Korea, that led to the near collaps of their country. They were strongly anticommunist which was the opposite of North Korea. It was a hard time for the South Koreans because Syngnam Rhee who was afraid that North Korea would truly take over Seoul, fleed the city with most of his government on June 27, 1950. The next night, South Korean military destroyed the Han bridge and that prevented the citizens from fleeing. North Korea did take over Seoul. Despite the hardships of having a repressive government and losing many of its own people, they persevered through the war and ended up much better than North Korea did.
Implications :
As stated above, I think South Korea would have been much better off if they had a better leader than Syngnam because he was such a repressive government and let his citizens suffer and was much more focused on his own political position to save his country. They did hold their ground with the help of the US of course. I don't think they were as responsible for the start of the Korean War as much as North Korea was because its citizens were continuing on with their normal lives until North Korea invaded the 38th parallel. It's good that South Korea now has a stable government and has recovered.