The Role of the USSR in the Korean War as Estimated by US Intelligence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2019.4.441Keywords:
Korean War; USSR; USA; CIA; internationalisation of internal conflict; PRC; DPRKAbstract
This article considers the role of the USSR in the Korean War of 1950–1953. Although Russian and foreign historians have published several works based on a comparison of Soviet, Korean, Chinese, and American documents describing the involvement of the USSR and Stalin personally in the preparation of the DPRK army’s invasion of the south, several issues require further clarification. This article is devoted to the perception of the American intelligence agencies of the USSR’s role in the war and to determining the degree of effectiveness of the information support in the conflict provided by the analysts of the US intelligence community. Special attention is paid to cases when analysts made correct conclusions and forecasts based on open sources which were not adequately assessed at the higher levels of intelligence and political hierarchy. The authors employ comparative analysis, historical imagology, and the new history of the Cold War. The war in Korea is seen as an internationalised internal conflict involving additional actors on both sides, usually with goals other than those officially declared. The analysis refers to FBIS electronic archive collections, documents of the State Department, the CIA, the US National Security Council, various narrative materials, and the Soviet press. The article considers the causes of the war, the circumstances behind the failures of US intelligence in 1950, and the conditions in which the negotiations for a truce on the Korean peninsula were conducted. The authors conclude that Stalin considered the conflict in Korea to be a local one. US intelligence recorded this detail, but the political leaders of the US regarded the war in Korea as the beginning of a global communist offensive initiated by Moscow.
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K zaversheniyu Koreiskoi voiny (1950–1953 godov) [To the End of the Korean War (1950–1953)]. In Istoriko-dokumental’nyi departament Ministerstva inostrannykh del Rossii [website]. URL: https://idd.mid.ru/informacionno-spravocnye-materialy/-/asset_publisher/WsjViuPk1am/content/k-zaverseniu-korejskoj-vojny‑1950–1953-godov-?inheritRedirect=false (mode of access: 12.05. 2019).
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Millett, A. (2001). Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Korean War: Cautionary Tale and Hopeful Precedent. In The J. of Am.-East Asian Relations. Vol. 10. No. 3/4, pp. 155–174. DOI 10.1163/187656101793645515.
Nitze, P. (1989). From Hiroshima to Glasnost: At the Center of Decision. A Memoir / with A. M. Smith & S. L. Rearden. NY, Grove Weidenfeld. 504 p.
Paige, G. D. (1968). The Korean Decision (June 24–30, 1950). NY, The Free Press. 384 p.
Pembroke, M. (2018). Korea: Where the American Century Began. L., Oneworld Publ. 368 p.
Pikhoya, R. G. (2000). Sovetskii Soyuz: istoriya vlasti. 1945–1991 [The Soviet Union: A History of Power. 1945–1991]. Novosibirsk, Sibirskii khronograf. 680 p.
Pravda [Pravda]. (1950). October 1.
Roberts, P. M. (Ed.) (2019). NSC‑68: US Objectives and Programs for National Security, April 7, 1950. In The Cold War: Interpreting Conflict through Primary Documents. Santa Barbara, ABC–Clio, pp. 305–320.
Rozitzke, H. (1988). The CIA’s Secret Operations: Espionage, Counterespionage and Covert Actions. Boulder, Westview Press. 287 p.
Stueck, W. (2002). Koreiskaya voyna [Korean War]. Moscow, AST. 732 p.
The Position and Actions of the United States with Respect to Possible Further Soviet Moves in the Light of the Korean Situation. In Digital National Security Archive [website]. URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1679066602 (mode of access: 17.08.2019).
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Weathersby, K. (1993). The Soviet Role in the Early Phase of the Korean War: New Documentary Evidence. In The J. of Am.-East Asian Relations. Vol. 2. Winter. No. 4, pp. 425–458.
Weathersby, K. (2002). “Should Wе Fear This?” Stalin and Danger of War with America. Working Paper No. 39. Washington, D. C. July, 2002. In Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Cold War International History Project [official website]. URL: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/should-we-fear-stalin-and-the-danger-waramerica (mode of access: 17.08.2019).
Weathersby, К. (1995). Korea, 1949–50: To Attack or Not to Attack? Stalin, Kim Il Sung, and the Prelude to War. In Cold War Intern. History Project Bull. Iss. 5, pp. 1–9.
Yungblud, V., Sadakov, D. (2018). Diplomaticheskoe obespechenie vmeshatel’stva SShA v Koreiskuyu voinu. Opyt krizisnogo reagirovaniya [Diplomatic Support of US Involvement in the Korean War June 25 – July 6 1950. Crisis Response Experience]. In Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta. No. 4 (61), pp. 241–261. DOI 10.24833/2071–8160–2018–4–61–241–261.
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Published
2019-12-21
How to Cite
Yungblud, V., & Sadakov, D. (2019). The Role of the USSR in the Korean War as Estimated by US Intelligence. Quaestio Rossica, 7(4), 1324–1338. https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2019.4.441
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