Australia in the Korean War weeks later by the American forces who entered through Incheon. US Army Lieutenant General John R. Hodge formally accepted the surrender of Japanese forces south of the 38th Parallel on 9 September 1945 at the Government House in Seoul. Although both rival factions tried initially to diplomatically reunite the divided nation, it was the Northern faction that eventually decided to try and do so with military force. Troops from the Soviet backed North Korean Army crossed the 38th parallel on 25 June 1950 beginning a civil war. The invasion of South Korea came as a surprise to the United Nations.
Aftermath of the Korean War 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. The Defense Department estimated that the United States spent $15 billion (equivalent to $ billion today) on the Korean War. The American defense budget had nearly