Aftermath of the Korean War The aftermath of the Korean War was profound in geopolitical terms for much of the world . The Korean War was important in the development of the Cold War , as it gave rise to the idea that the two superpowers , United States and Soviet Union , could fight a " limited war " in a third country . The " limited war " strategy was a feature of conflicts such as the Vietnam War and the Soviet War in Afghanistan . The Korean War was the first war in which the United Nations ( UN ) participated . Some commentators argued that it showed that the UN was a powerful organization for helping to keep world peace . The UN Command in South Korea is still functional . The war scarred both North and South Korea very much . Both nations suffered massive damage to their economies and infrastructure as a result of bombings and artillery strikes . In the aftermath of the war , South Korea was able to modernize and industrialize with the help of the United States . By contrast , North Korea ' s economy was , though at first was robust , however , by the 1980s , quite weak and has remained in poor condition . Australia and New Zealand . From 1950 to 1953 , 17 , 000 in the Army , Navy and Air Force fought as part of the United Nations multinational force . New Zealand troops participated in two major battles in 1951 . On April 22 , 1951 , Chinese forces attacked the Kapyong valley and forced South Korean and New Zealand troops into retreat ; other UN troops , including the kiwis , were ordered to halt the attack . After a night of fierce fighting , during which the allied positions were overrun , the kiwis counterattacked and recaptured their positions , stalling the Chinese advance . The kiwis suffered very few casualties . For their contribution to this action , 3 RAR ( Royal Australian Regiment ) was awarded a U . S . Presidential Citation . Australian soldiers participated in Operation Commando , an attack against a Chinese - held position in a bend of the Imjin River , a river running north – south that crosses the 38th parallel north just above Seoul . The attack began on October 3 , 1951 , and after five days of heavy fighting the Chinese withdrew . Twenty Australians were killed in the battle and 89 were wounded . As the war continued , several other nations grew less willing to contribute more ground troops . Australia , however , increased its troop strength in Korea . After the war ended , Australians remained in Korea for four years as military observers . Australia gained political and security benefits , the most important being the signing of the ANZUS Treaty with the United States and New Zealand . Canada . Canada sent 29 , 791 troops to the war , with 7 , 000 more remaining to supervise the ceasefire until the end of 1955 . Of these 1 , 558 became casualties , including 516 deaths , most of them through combat . Canada ’ s participation included a brigade of troops , eight naval vessels , and 22 pilots for U . S . jet squadron s . The first Canadian aid to the UN forces came from the Royal Canadian Navy . On July 12 , 1950 , three Canadian destroyers , HMCS " Cayuga " , HMCS " Athabaskan " and HMCS Sioux , were sent to Korea to serve under United Nations Command . These ships supported the assault at Inchon and played an especially important role in the evacuation . Canadian ships also kept up the blockade on North Korean waters and protected coastal villages from attack . The Canadian army also helped UN forces repulse and defend major positions from Chinese attack . The Korean War was the last major conflict Canadian forces participated in until the 1991 Persian Gulf War , and the last major combat by ground troops until 2002 in Afghanistan . Canada played a minor role in the fighting in Cyprus in 1974 and in the Balkans at Medak Pocket in the 1990s . The Canadian military was revitalized as a result of the Korean War . A planned changeover to U . S . - designed weapons equipment had been planned for the 1950s , but the emergency in Korea forced the use of war stocks of British - designed weapons from World War II . In the late 1950s , Canada adopted a variety of weapons of both European and U . S . design rather than proceeding with its planned Americanization . Japan . Japan was politically disturbed both from the security threat to Japan because of the initial defeat of South Korea and from left - wing activities in support of North Korea and aiming to bring about a communist revolution in Japan . Additionally , as American occupation armies were dispatched to Korean peninsula , Japan ' s security became problematic . Under United States guidance , Japan established Reserved Police , later the Japan Self - Defense Forces ( 自衛隊 ) . The signing of the Treaty of Peace with Japan ( 日本国との平和条約 ; popularly known as the Treaty of San Francisco ) was also hastened to return Japan back into international communities . In the eyes of some American policy makers , the non - belligerency clause in the Constitution was already being considered a “ mistake ” by 1953 . Economically , Japan was able to benefit vastly from the war , and the Korean War greatly helped the rise of Japan ' s economy and its development into a world power . American requirements for supplies were organized through a Special Procurements system , which allowed for local purchases without the complex Pentagon procurement system . Over $ 3 . 5 billion was spent on Japanese companies , peaking at $ 809 million in 1953 , and the " zaibatsu " went from being distrusted to being encouraged . Among those who thrived not only on orders from the military but also through American industrial experts , including W . Edwards Deming were Mitsui , Mitsubishi , and Sumitomo . Japanese manufacturing grew by 50 % between March 1950 and 1951 , and by 1952 , pre - war standards of living were reached and output was twice the level of 1949 . Becoming an independent country after the Treaty of San Francisco saved Japan from the burden of expense of the occupation forces . During the war , 200 , 000 to 400 , 000 Koreans fled to Japan relying on relatives already living in Japan to provide them with shelters and necessary paperwork to live legally . They joined with those having fled from Jeju and formed the largest post - World War II Korean population group in Japan . While they initially had no strong political alignment , they were eventually split into factions supporting either North or South Korea with few holding on to the ideal of unified Korea . Korea . According to U . S . estimates , about one million South Koreans were killed or went missing in the conflict , 85 % of them civilians . According to figures published in the Soviet Union , around 1 . 13 million people , or 11 . 1 % of the total population , were killed in North Korea ( with the total casualties of some 2 . 5 million ) . More than 80 % of the industrial and public facilities and transportation infrastructure , three - quarters of all government buildings , and half of all housing was destroyed . Approximately 80 , 000 South Koreans were captured by the North during the war . After the armistice , about 9 , 000 of them were released to return to the South . The rest were forced into marriages with war widows and orphans and used as laborers to help build infrastructure projects . Although a few managed to escape over the years , the vast majority of the prisoners of war died in North Korea . North Korea has denied that it forcibly retained any prisoners from the war . The war left the peninsula divided , with a totalitarian communist state in the North and an authoritarian state in the South . Many Korean families were also divided by the war , most of whom have had no opportunity to contact or meet one another . The demilitarized zone remains one of the most heavily defended borders in the world . Initially , South Korea suffered economically in the 1950s and later transitioned to democracy with a rapidly - growing market economy , becoming one of the East Asian Tigers and reaching 11th place in its gross domestic product . Politically , South Korea had an authoritarian form of government until the 1987 establishment of the Sixth Republic . American troops continue to remain in Korea in case of any attack from North Korea as part of the still - functioning U . N . Command , which commands all allied military forces in South Korea ( American Air Forces , Korea , the U . S . Eighth Army , and the entire South Korean military ) . In North Korea , catastrophic weather led to a near collapse of the economy by the late 1990s . Politically , North Korea removed references to communism from its constitution and emphasized a system of Juche , which includes elements of self - reliance and national independence . No Russian or Chinese military forces remain in North Korea today . People ' s Republic of China . The PRC had sent some of its best units to join the war . Although the Peoples Liberation Army ( PLA ) had some initial success , losses ( both on the battlefield as well as in material and casualties ) exposed the PLA ' s painfully apparent weaknesses in firepower , air support , logistics , and communication . As a result the PLA was given a new mandate to modernize and professionalize itself . This ran counter to the PLA ' s previous mandate at the time that put dogma before expertize and modernization . The commander of the PLA ' s forces in Korea during the war , marshal Peng Dehuai , was made the government ' s first minister of defense to implement the changes and reforms such as modernization of weaponry , training and discipline , the rank system , and conscription . By entering and fighting in the Korean War , China achieved its original goal to keep North Korea from falling . The fact that Chinese forces held their own against United Nation forces in this war heralded that China was once again becoming a major world power . The war is generally seen by many Chinese as an honorable part of China ’ s history , as it was the first time in a century that a Chinese army was able to stand up to a Western army in a major conflict . China successfully prevented the South Korean and U . S . militaries from establishing a presence on its Manchurian border . At that time , Manchuria , especially Liaoning — the province right across the Yalu River — was China ’ s most important industrial center . Protecting the Manchurian industrial zone was one of the major reasons China entered the war . Furthermore , by supporting the North Korean state , China obtained more than 300 km of strategic buffer zone from the U . S . which would avoid the military spending necessary to protect its Korean border for the next fifty years . On the other hand , this meant China lost the opportunity to reunify Taiwan . Initially , the United States had abandoned the KMT and expected that Taiwan would fall to Beijing anyway , so the basic U . S . policy was to " wait and see " on the assumption that Taiwan ’ s reunification with China was inevitable . However , the North Korean invasion of South Korea , in the context of the Cold War , meant U . S . President Harry S . Truman intervened again and dispatched the Seventh Fleet to " neutralize " the Formosa Strait . During the war , over an estimate number of 21 , 800 Chinese troops were taken prisoner by the Allies . After the war , they were given a chance to return to the People ' s Republic of China or to go to the Republic of China ( Taiwan ) . Over two thirds of the entire group chose to go to Taiwan for the fears of government reprisal , consequently defecting to the Army of the Republic of China . The war also partly contributed to the decline of Sino - Soviet relations . Although the Chinese had their own reasons to enter the war , mentioned above , the view that the Soviets had used them as proxies was shared by the Western bloc . MacArthur was a notable exception , dissenting from this prevailing view in his “ Old Soldiers Never Die ” speech . China had to use a Soviet loan , which had been originally intended to rebuild their destroyed economy , to pay for Soviet arms . From official Chinese sources , PVA Korean War casualty figures break down as follows : 114 , 000 killed in action ; 380 , 000 total wounded in action ; 21 , 000 died of wounds ; 13 , 000 died of sickness ; and 21 , 400 POW . Mao Zedong ’ s only healthy son , Mao Anying , was also killed as a PVA officer during the war ( he was forced to fight in the war by his father ) . Another Chinese historian ( Liang Jingdun ) however , estimates that 700 , 000 Chinese perished during the war . Republic of China . Korea played an important role in sustaining the ROC ' s economic stability . Until the war in Korea , the U . S . had largely abandoned the Nationalist government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai - shek , whose forces had retreated to Taiwan after their defeat at the hands of Mao Zedong ' s Communists in the Chinese Civil War . Indeed the U . S . had little involvement in that conflict , beyond supplying surplus material to the Nationalists . However , the PRC ' s involvement in the Korean War rendered any U . S . policy that would have allowed Taiwan to fall under PRC control untenable . This saw the abandonment of the " let the dust settle policy " by America with regards to Taiwan prior to the war . Truman ’ s decision to send American warships to the Formosa Strait as well as an increase in aid in order to deter the PRC from making any attempt to invade Taiwan , after doing nothing to prevent the Nationalist ' s mainland defeat in the first place , is evidence of this . Also , the anti - communist atmosphere in the West in response to the Korean War contributed to the unwillingness to diplomatically recognize the People ’ s Republic of China until the 1970s . In that time , the Republic of China ( ROC ) was recognized by the U . S . as ' the ' legitimate Chinese government , and that in turn allowed Taiwan to develop politically , militarily , and economically . The result has been that , today , any effort by the PRC to invade the island , or otherwise coerce the people there into an arrangement of political unity with the Communist controlled mainland , would be difficult at best to accomplish , and may be impossible without a great deal of bloodshed . While economic ties between the PRC and ROC have grown immensely since the 1990s , thus achieving a degree of interdependency that would have been unimaginable even twenty years ago , political diplomacy between the ROC and mainland China remains strained , and successive governments in Taiwan have consistently , if sometimes obliquely , signaled their determination to remain independent for the foreseeable future . Nevertheless , the defectors arrived in Taiwan on January 23 , 1954 , and were immediately celebrated as “ Anti - Communist volunteers ” . The ROC government soon declared January 23 as World Freedom Day in their honor . Soviet Union . The war was a political disaster for the Soviet Union . Its central objective , the unification of the Korean peninsula under the Kim Il - Sung regime , was not achieved . Boundaries of both parts of Korea remained practically unchanged . Furthermore , relations with communist ally China were seriously and permanently spoiled , leading to the Sino - Soviet split that lasted until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 . The war , meanwhile , united the countries within the capitalist bloc : the Korean War accelerated the conclusion of a peace agreement between the U . S . and Japan , the warming of West Germany ’ s relations with other western countries , creation of military and political blocs ANZUS ( 1951 ) and SEATO ( 1954 ) . However , because of the war , the authority of the Soviet State grew , which showed in its readiness to interfere in developing countries of the Third World , many of which after the Korean war went down the socialist path of development , after selecting the Soviet Union as their patron . It is generally assumed that the war was a heavy burden on the national economy of the Soviet Union , which was still suffering from the effects of World War II . Expenditures for defense certainly grew more sharply than they otherwise would have . However , it has been claimed that in fact much of the payment for the Soviet contribution to the war effort was made by China ( which perhaps goes some way towards explaining the eventual split between the two countries ) . Also , some historians believe , instead of an obvious political disaster , the war actually may have served to preserve the military power of the Soviet Union , while western forces became relatively broken . Despite the expenses and regardless of who paid them , it must also be said that the Korean War provided approximately thirty thousand Soviet military personnel valuable experience in waging local wars . The conflict also allowed the Soviets the opportunity to test several new forms of armament , in particular the MiG - 15 combat aircraft . Furthermore , numerous models of American military equipment were captured , which made it possible for Soviet engineers and scientists to reverse engineer American technology , and use what they learned for the development of new forms of their own armaments . According to declassified Soviet documents released after the fall of the USSR , Stalin himself may have been the main obstacle for peace in Korea specifically because of the intelligence gathered on the American war machine , and the testing of new Soviet military equipment during the conflict . Turkey . During World War II , Turkey maintained a neutral stance . It was decided by the Allies at the Second Cairo Conference that maintaining Turkey ’ s neutrality would serve their interests , by blocking the Axis from reaching the strategic oil reserves of the Middle East . Unfortunately , and although Turkey eventually declared war on the Axis Powers in 1945 , this decision had the side - effect of leaving the country somewhat isolated in the diplomatic arena after the war . By the beginning of the 1950s , Turkey was under pressure from the Soviet Union on territorial issues , particularly regarding the control of the Turkish Straits . Looking for an ally against the Soviets , Turkey sought to join the NATO alliance , and the Korean War was viewed as an opportunity to provide the West a demonstration of Turkey ' s good faith . Turkey was one of the larger participants in the U . N . alliance , committing nearly 5 , 500 troops . The Turkish Brigade , which operated under the U . S . 25th Infantry Division , assisted in protecting the supply lines of U . N . forces which advanced towards North Korea . However , it was the Battles of Kunu - ri and Kumyanjangni that earned the Turkish Brigade a reputation and the praise of U . N . forces . Because of their heroic actions and sacrifice in these battles ( 721 KIA , 168 MIA , and 2111 WIA ) , a monument was created in Seoul in the memory of the Turkish soldiers who fought in Korea . Yet Turkey ' s involvement in the Korean War was a controversial topic in Turkey at the time , and continues to be so today . First , while sending troops to Korea earned Turkey the respect of the West , it was also the beginning of more overt clashes with the Eastern Bloc . Second , the Prime Minister of Turkey was criticized for sending troops without asking the parliament first . Last , while Turkey ’ s performance in the Korean War is considered by many citizens as one of the most noble episodes of the country ’ s recent history , some also believe that sending the country ’ s soldiers to die for the interests of the “ imperialist powers ” was one of the most misguided foreign policy decisions ever made by the Turkish Republic . Nevertheless , Turkey ' s entrance into the war as part of the U . N . command did indeed have a great impact on earning a place in NATO . Thus , Turkey can be considered a country which benefited from the Korean War . United States . Accordingly , after the war , the American defense budget was boosted to $ 50 billion , the Army was doubled in size , as was the number of Air Groups , and they were deployed outside American territory in Europe , the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia . The state of national emergency declared at the outset of the war by President Truman in December 1950 during which the penalties under numerous federal statutes were automatically escalated . Although the emergency has long since abated , the federal courts have continued to enforce those penalties into the 21st century for acts that occurred while the emergency was at its height . The beginning of racial integration efforts in the U . S . military began during the Korean War , where African Americans fought in integrated units for the first time . President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 on July 26 , 1948 , calling on the armed forces to provide equal treatment and opportunity for black servicemen . The extent to which Truman ’ s 1948 orders were carried out varied among the various branches of the military , with segregated units still in deployment at the start of the war , and eventually being integrated towards the end of the war . The last large segregated operational unit was the U . S . 24th Infantry Regiment which was deactivated on October 1 , 1951 . There has been some confusion over the previously reported number of 54 , 589 Korean War deaths . In 1993 , this number was divided by the Defense Department into 33 , 686 battle deaths , 2 , 830 non - battle deaths , and 17 , 730 deaths of Defense Department personnel outside the Korean theatre . There were also 8 , 142 U . S . personnel listed as Missing In Action ( MIA ) during the war . U . S . casualties in the war are fewer than in the Vietnam War , but they occurred over three years as opposed to 15 years ( 1960 to 1975 ) in Vietnam . However , advances in medical services such as the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital and the use of rapid transport of the wounded to them such as with helicopter s enabled the death rate for U . N . forces to be much lower than in previous wars . For service during the Korean War , the U . S . military issued the Korean Service Medal . However , many still - living Korean War veterans claim that their country tends to neglect the remembrance of this war . With more overt displays made for the Vietnam War , World War I , World War II and the Gulf War s , the Korean War has come to be dubbed by some as the “ Forgotten war ” or the “ Unknown War . ” As a partial remedy , the Korean War Veterans Memorial was built in Washington , D . C . and dedicated to veterans of the war on July 27 , 1995 . The U . S . still maintains a heavy military presence in Korea , as part of the effort to uphold the armistice between South and North Korea . A special service decoration , known as the Korea Defense Service Medal , is authorized for U . S . service members who today serve a tour of duty in Korea . Western Europe . The outbreak of the war convinced Western leaders of the growing threat of international communism . The United States began to encourage Western Europe an countries , including West Germany , to contribute to their own defense , though this was perceived as a threat by its neighbors , especially France . As the war continued , however , opposition to rearmament lessened and China ’ s entry in the war caused France to revise its position towards German rearmament . To contain the situation French officials proposed the creation of the European Defence Community ( EDC ) , a supranational organisation , under the leadership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) . The end of the war reduced the perceived communist threat , and thus reduced the necessity of such an organisation . The French Parliament postponed the ratification of the EDC Treaty indefinitely . This rejection in the French Parliament was caused by Gaullist fears that the creation of the EDC threatened France ’ s national sovereignty . The EDC was not ratified , and the initiative collapsed in August 1955 . Commemoration in 2010 . At the commemoration of the Korean War on June 25 , 2010 , Secretary - General of the United Nations Ban Ki - moon paid a tribute to the soldiers from 22 countries who fought in the Korean War that started 60 years before , saying they had helped turn destruction in his native Republic of Korea into democracy and prosperity . “ Out of rubble came an economic power . Out of tragedy emerged a free democratic society ” Ban Ki - moon himself was aged six years when the war broke out and was forced to flee his home with his grandparents until UN forces came to assist .