this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2025
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So why is South Vietnam so villified but South Korea isn't? I'm so confused.
Why is western involvement in Korean war seemingly "good", but western involvement in Vietnam War = "bad"? At least that's what I hear from the American Liberals.
Are these both "good"? Both "bad"?
I never really understood it.
Short answer: South Korea was invaded by North Korea, and then defended by the UN (including the USA).
South Vietnam was formed in defiance of the international agreement to hold national elections for the future of Vietnam, and then supported primarily by the USA in the continuation of a civil war.
Sometimes the USA is on the right side. Sometimes the USA is on the wrong side. That's how history - and the national interests of powerful states - goes.
you could really make a good meme about the Soviet Union boycotting UN security council meeting and the rest of the members just voted in favor of defending South Korea without them.
Also, Usa is not western world, they're the largest third world dictatorship
I was going to point out that "third world" just means "countries the USA feels entitled to invade or topple the governments of", but I suppose that would make the USA a third world country now, given Trump's re-election after his attempted coup.
At the time they were, and also, if we use the term third world as it was initially, its still first world, by inherent fact of what the term used to stand for.
Western world is not Usa. You mean Usa then
Edgy
So provocative
Maybe difference is majority of Vietnam actually hated US, even south Vietnam side because of atrocities (Zippo raids, Agent Orange, etc).
On the southern side of Korea, normal people hate communists (asians also just hate each other a lot and rhe North was backed by China) and actively sought US help + didn't commit as much atrocities so good support and outcome for everyone.
I think every group in close proximity hates each other to some extent, so not entirely surprising there
If I were you I would start by reading the Wikipedia articles for both wars. That would be a good baseline knowledge to have before asking such questions.
There's nothing wrong with asking questions, even if the answers aren't hard to find using other ways. Like I appreciate the question because it was something that had never even occurred to me, as obvious as it was in hindsight.
And even when the question is being asked in bad faith, discouraging people from asking questions can give them more credibility rather than less, because it looks like (soft) censorship, especially to anyone else who thinks it's a good question.
Without getting into your definition of good or bad, the reason people have different opinions on those wars is because they are very different.
Outside of "south" vs. "north", being on the same continent, and involving communists they don't have much in common.
People feel different about things that are different.