In June 1950 communist North Korea invaded South Korea. The US came to the aid of South Korea at the head of a UN force composed of more than a dozen countries.
Before 1941, the US had no vital interests in Korea and was largely indifferent to its fate. But after Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt and his advisors acknowledgedthe importance of this strategic peninsula for peace in Asia,
After World War Two, Korea had been divided at the 38th parallel into the Soviet-backed communist North Korea, led by Kim Il Sung, and non-communist, American-backed South Korea under the leadership of Syngman Rhee.
