ABSTRACT
The irony of American involvement in the Korean War is that it came against a background of US. military disengagement from South Korea. This chapter examines the debate as part of an overview of the evolution of United States policy from the occupation and division of Korea at the end of World War II to the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950. It looks at the process whereby Korea was divided and then highlights the divisions in the United States government prior to the April 1948 decision, enshrined in National Security Council Decision Paper-8 (NSC-8), to withdraw American forces from South Korea. The heart of the compromise between the State Department and Army positions appears in NSC-8/2, which restated the middle course between wholesale abandonment and the absolute commitment initially set forth in NSC-8. While US economic assistance to Korea was being considered, there were consistent reports of an impending North Korean offensive.
