Biological Warfare during the Korean War

More than 500 million people have died of infectious diseases in the past century. Some of these deaths have been caused by deliberate attempts made by the enemy, and many of these deaths happened during war time. Biological warfare can be traced back all the way to 1346, when it was also knows as germ or bacteriological warfare. It is defined by the United Nations as the use of any living organism or an effective component to cause disease or death in humans, animals, or plants. (Stebbins, 2007) This type of attack has been used in several instances, such as the siege of Caffa, a city in current day Crimea when plague infected corpses were hurled towards the enemy front lines. During World War I, when horses and cattle were injected with glanders and anthrax. World War II when the Japanese conducted experiments with the Plague without consideration of others. Several other instances have also been reported as strategies the enemy has used aside from the ones mentioned, like putting corpses in water supplies, spreading insects on food supplies, and the countless allegations that were made during the Korean War against the United States by the Soviets.

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 when conflict broke out at the 38th parallel, the boundary that divided the country into two. This invasion and declaration of war was the first military act of the Cold War. It began as a civil war between the North and the South partly because each side wanted to rule differently. Kim II Sung wanted a communist government in North Korea and Syngman Rhee, the first president of South Korea opposed this dictatorship. The war between the North and the South lasted a mere two days before other parties became involved. The United States ...

... middle of paper ...

...y for something big.

Works Cited

(2005). J. Croddy & J. Larsen (Eds.), Weapons of mass destruction: An encyclopedia of worldwide policy, technology, and history. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc.

Tucker, J. (2006). War of nerves: chemical warfare from world war I to al-qaeda. (1st ed.). New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

(2000). S. Tucker (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the korean war: A political, social, and military history. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc.

Stebbins, M. (2007). Introduction to biological weapons. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/biosecurity/resource/bioweapons.htm

Guimaraes, L. (n.d.). Weapons of mass destruction. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/6122167/Weapons_of_Mass_Destruction_Volume_I_Chemical_and_Biological_Weapons_and_Volume_II_Nuclear_Weapons

The biological weapons convention. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Bio