List of ambassadors of the United States to South Korea
At the end of World War II, American forces accepted Imperial Japan's surrender in southern Korea, and Soviet forces accepted the surrender of the Japanese in northern Korea. Talks to agree upon a unity government for Korea failed and in 1948, two separate Korean states were created: the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). The United States established diplomatic relations with the new South Korean government, but did not recognize North Korea. Other countries, like the Soviet Union, recognized the Pyongyang government in North Korea, but did not initially establish relations with the South Korean government in Seoul.
United States in the 1950s
The war, which lasted from June 25, 1950, until the was signed on July 27, 1953, started as a civil war between communist North Korea and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). The United States, acting on behalf of the United Nations, sought to repel the North Korean invasion. A monument for the veterans of the war was not created until the 1990s. When the war began, North and South Korea existed as provisional governments competing for control over the Korean peninsula, due to the division of Korea by outside powers. While originally a civil war, it quickly escalated into a proxy war between the capitalist powers of the United States and its allies and the communist powers of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The war began when North Korea invaded South Korea.