Korea and Vietnam - similarities and differences

Korea and Vietnam

Similarities

• Both Korea and Vietnam were divided after World War Two.  Korea was divided at the 38th parallel in 1948 (North and South Korea), and Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel in 1954 (North and South Vietnam).  (Mr Lappin) 
• Millions of people were killed in both countries as a result of the wars. 4 million were killed in Korea, and around 1 million Vietnamese civilians were also killed. (Matthew, Luke & Ross)
• America sent troops to both countries to contain communism. (Adam, Steven & Lewis) 
• America failed to completely contain communism in both areas. By 1975 all of Vietnaum was communist and North korea remained communist after American interference. (James, Ben & Richard). 
• Up until the mid 1940's both Korea and Vietnam had been under control of foreign powers. Until its defeat in 1945, Japan had ruled Korea and up until 1946 Vietnam was a French colony. (Emily and Sarah C)

Differences

• In Korea, elections were held to decide the future of the country in 1948.  Free elections were not held in Vietnam. (Mr Lappin) 
• When the Vietnam war ended in 1975, North and South Vietnam became a united country. 
  However after the Korean War, Korea  was two seperate states and peace was sought by a ceasefire which saw the creation of a permanent border (slightly north of the 38th Parallel) and a demilitarisation zone between the two sides.  (Amy, Caz & Darren)
•  54,000 American soldiers died in Korea and the war ended within three years. In Vietnam, however, 58,000 soldiers perished over a course of ten years.  Whereas Vietnam tended to be long and drawn out. ( Dylan & Jordan)
•  The fundamental difference between the two wars was in the outcome. The United States and other democratic nations protected South Korea from the communists, while it lost to them in South Vietnam.( Jan, Lisa and Aaron )
• The Chinese mainly fought the US in Korea without much popular support from the people. In Vietnam, however, many civilians joined the war effort. One motto of the communist Vietnamese was, "If the truck is struck, tear down the walls of your house." Americans had no way of telling between neutral civilians and Viet Cong supporters. This is one of the main reasons why America could not defeat the Viet Cong. (Matthew McCann and Matthew Gilchrist)
• Unlike Korea, Vietnam was a guerrilla conflict. The war in Korea was fought by North Korean soldiers. When the UN force had exceeded its orders they moved to China’s border, China responded by sending in 250,000 soldiers.  In Vietnam Diem’s brutal actions caused communist guerrillas to struggle for power against him. They were known as the National Liberation Front or the Vietcong, and had the backing of North Vietnam.  They were not official soldiers unlike the North Korean and Chinese army in the Korean War. (Andrew and David)