a)What does the UN charter say are the aims of the UNO?

ANS. The United Nations Charter signed in June 1945 stated that the purpose of the United
Nations Organisation (UNO) was to maintain international peace and security and to take effective
collective measures to remove and prevent threats to the peace as well suppress acts of
aggression within the conformity of International Law and Justice. The UNO aimed to develop
friendly relations between the countries based on respect and to achieve international co-operation
by solving economic, social, cultural or humanitarian conflicts. It also aimed to encourage respect
for human rights and freedom without any distinction between race, sex, language or religion.
According to the charter the UNO’s purpose was to be the centre for harmonising between the
member countries while accomplishing its other aims.

b)Why did the Korean war end in stalemate

On 25th June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. Two months after the invasion the North
Korean troops had pushed South troops to the Pusan perimeter, in the south eastern tip of the
Korean peninsula. An army of UN troops were then rallied as a final attempt to force the North
Korean army back. After six weeks the North Korean force collapsed and retreated, The UN then
launched a successful counter attack at Inchon pushing the North Koreans further north past the
Yalu river. China intervened at this points and the UN troops were pushed back yet again. During
the course of the war Seoul changed hands four times. Towards the end the conflict turnes into
attrition warfare and the front line remains somewhere near the 38th parallel which marked the
division between North and South Korea. It seemed that neither side could achieve victory. Mac
Arthur the leader of the US troops wanted to use nuclear weapons on Korea, however Truman did
not want a war with Russia that was sure to happen if they released a nuclear weapon against a
communist opponent and Macarthur was removed from his post. The US troops lacked a leader
with extreme views of the situation in Korea and so the war was fought with less hatred as before.
On 27th July 1953 an armistice was signed, a Korean de-militarised zone was formed between the
two sides and prisoners were to be returned but no other changes were made and no peace treaty
was signed. North Korea remained communist while South Korea remained noncommunist and
republican. The border wasn't drastically changed and remained along the 38th parallel. There was
no declared victor and thus the war was a stalemate.

c)“Events in Korea (1950-30) demonstrated that UNO was effective in peace keeping” How far do
you agree with this statement?

The Korean war proved to the world that the United nations was a fully functional and very effective
body.The United Nations responded quickly to the North Korean threat and achieved its goal which
was to stop North Korea from taking over the South. It aimed to take collective measures to
remove and prevent threats to International peace and suppress acts of aggression which it did,
the north and south Koreans signed an armistice and agreed to a ceasefire. The North Koreans
were pushed back towards their original territory behind the 38th parallel. The UNO’s actions also
showed the credibility of Collective security when well implemented as 21 nations combined troops
to free South Korea from oppression.

Although the United Nations Organisation was more effective in its peacekeeping efforts than the
League of Nations, it wasn't entirely successful in achieving its goals. The main aim of the UNO as
stated in its Charter was to maintain International peace and security, this was clearly not achieved
as just five years after the UNO was formed the North Koreans invaded South Korea and started
the Korean War. The UNO also promoted human rights which were violated when they killed many
innocent Koreans. The fact that most of the UNO was american showed to the world that the UNO
was being and could be in the future used by the United States to to their bidding, in this case fight
communism. This was further confirmed when the UN troops continued to push North Korean
troops back towards the Chinese border even after the lost land was regained. This meant that the
war was prolonged when it did not need to be and that there were a lot of lives lost unnecessarily.
This caused the Chinese to get involved and the UN troops were pushed back south. The war was
then fought along the 38th parallel meaning that no land was gained and that Korea was not
unified under a democratic government. Even after the armistice was signed no peace treaty was
signed, meaning that the war never technically ended.

The UNO did not gain much after the war and the situation in Korea was similar to the one before
the Korean war. The UN did not stop the war from happening and did participate in but were
successful in stopping it although not with the results they hoped they would have.