During the Korean War, after NATO forces push the North past the 38th parallel, why did NATO continue pushing them further north, thereby invading as the North did to the South?

by shaboinkin

I just started looking into the Korean War and this seems like one of those "What if" questions that would have far reaching impacts if that were to never have happened in the first place.

Were there any internal conversations within NATO advising to NOT cross the 38th? What was the justification for pushing the northern forces further north?

owlinspector

I cannot go in to the specific question you ask about crossing the 38th. But I have to point out a basic flaw in your question - the Korean War effort was not a NATO operation. The allied forces resisting North Korea was doing so on a UN mandate under United Nations Command, UNC. The UNC included nations like Thailand, Ethiopia, South Africa and the Philippines. Not NATO members then and not NATO members now.

NATO had been formed just two years earlier, in 1949, and was an organization very much in it's infancy. The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe didn't form until 1950 and the organization didn't hold it's first major maritime excercise until 1952.