Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Briefly describe the backdrop of The Korean war.
• What concerns necessitated India’s involvement.
• Enumerate the efforts of India for restoring the status quo.
• Conclude by explaining how Korean war mediation was a test of India’s commitment to the principles of Non Aligned Movement (NAM).

Introduction

The end of the Second World War left Korea divided between a Communist North controlled by the Socialist camp and a South Korea dominated by Western powers. On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War, where the US and the USSR and later China were at loggerheads.

Body

India’s concerns

• India was partly motivated by the realization that the Cold War could take a very dangerous dimension in Asia, which could reach India’s vicinities, which led the government to take a great deal of interest in the war.

India’s Response

• Two basic imperatives guided India’s stand on the war. The first pertained to containing the war and not allowing it to escalate.
• India’s second imperative was upholding the principle of great power unity. To that end, it believed that the Security Council had to create the space for all five great powers to deliberate and work together.
• At the tangible, material level, India sent a medical unit, the 60^th Para Field Ambulance, to render assistance to those injured in the war.
• In addition to contributing personnel, India played an important role in seeking to resolve the war at a political and diplomatic level.
• China and the US did not have formal diplomatic relations after the Communist revolution in China and India was the only link between the two.
• Owing to the non-representation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at the Security Council, and the boycotting of this body by the Soviet Union, India appealed for the PRC to be included in the Security Council and called for the body to jointly resolve the problems.
• India’s government supported UN Security Council resolutions that sought to restore the status quo without demonizing any party or proposing measures that would prolong or expand the war.
• As a result, a ceasefire was declared on July 27, 1953. A Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission was set up with an Indian- General Thimayya, as its Chairman, and an Indian ‘Custodian Force’ under his charge, was made responsible for the difficult task of repatriation.

Conclusion

The Korean War was a test for India’s commitment to non-alignment and peace. Without India’s diplomatic and conciliatory efforts, the War could have transformed into a wider military conflict resulting into great powers fighting to
the end.