During the second world war, there was fighting in korea. The u. S. And the soviet union jointly occupied korea. They agreed to divide korea. Now, northern korea, that is what we call today north korea was very much communist influenced. Southern korea, which we now call south korea, it was a very different situation. With the assistance of the un, they sponsored elections in south korea and the South Koreans elected a democratic government. North korea wanted to unite under its terms. It sends insurgence into south korea to try to overthrow the government. They failed to do so. Then in january of 1950, the u. S. Secretary of state made a really significant error. In a speech talking about the areas of influence and positions that were vital to the United Statess interest, he mentioned japan and the philippines and omitted south korea. North koreans interpreted that as a statement that the u. S. Wouldnt go to war to defend south korea. In june of 1950, armed with soviet equipment and a