North Korea in the Korean War Soviets. Neither dictator was content to remain on his side of the 38th parallel, however, and border skirmishes were common. Even so, the North Korean invasion came as an alarming surprise to American officials. As far as they were concerned, this was not simply a border dispute between two unstable dictatorships on the other side of the globe. Instead, many feared it was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world. For this reason, nonintervention was not considered an option by many top decision makers. As the North Korean army pushed into Seoul, the South Korean
North Korea in the Korean War these, about 10 percent of Korea’s pre-war population, were civilians. This rate of civilian casualties was higher than in World War II and the Vietnam War. Nearly 10,000 North and South Korean soldiers were also killed in battle before the war even began. North Korean casualties amount at around 600,000 civilians and 406,000 soldiers. Unlike World War II and Vietnam, the Korean War did not get much media attention in the United States. The most famous representation of the war in popular culture is the television series "M*A*S*H", which was set in a field hospital in South Korea. The series