“The diplomatic and political impact of the Korean War was limited.” Discuss with reference to two countries.

The question requires that candidates offer a considered and balanced review of the statement that the diplomatic and political impact of the Korean War was limited. Candidates may offer equal coverage of diplomatic and political impact, or they may prioritize their discussion of either. For diplomatic impact, candidates may discuss the war as vindication of the United Nations’s potential to use military force against an aggressor and the establishment of a defence treaty between the US and South Korea. For political impact, candidates may address the war as helping secure support in the US for increased military spending (NSC-68) and Eisenhower’s political benefit in the 1952 election by pledging to end the war. Other relevant factors may be addressed, for example the extensive military involvement of Canada resulted in internal controversy that may have contributed to their decision to maintain official neutrality in the Vietnam War. Conversely, for Colombia, (the only Latin American country to enter the war), there was temporary improvement of relations with the US, but this had little long-term impact, other than the controversy over the treatment of Colombia’s Korean War veterans. Candidates’ opinions or conclusions will be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence.

The question required that candidates offer a considered and balanced review of the statement that the diplomatic and political impact of the Korean War was limited. A good number of candidates chose to engage with the statement stating that the diplomatic and political impact of the Korean War was limited. While the exam, as an Americas regional exam, required that two countries of the region be addressed, many candidates only applied one country of the Americas (usually the United States) correctly. Some candidates mistakenly chose South Korea, China or the USSR as examples. These are not part of the Americas region. This substantially limited the ability of the essay to provide accurate and relevant content. Additionally, many candidates described events from the war but had difficulty in focusing on political and diplomatic impact.