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Canadian Obligation in a second Korean War?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rian_Ca
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Rian_Ca

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I thought about this a few days ago  when i saw something on the DMZ.My question is...Since Canada was involved in this war in the '50s,would they be required to continue it should the DMZ be crossed and the war continued?
 
Canada‘s involvement in the Korean War was as a result of the UN decision to deploy forces there, firstly, and secondly as a result of the Canadian government deciding to contribute.

Canadian forces would be under no obligation to deploy as my guess is that the UN mandate was ended after the ceasefire in 1953 - though I stand to be correct by that.

Is the SEATO treaty still in effect? I can see Australia being pledged to the defence of other nations in South East Asia, but was Canada a signatory?

Barring that, we might decide to join a UN mission there, or possibly give aid (what we could send, I don‘t know) to our US allies if they deployed a combat force there.

But correct me if I‘m wrong, but I don‘t think we have any obligations to do so.
 
Technically, no.

That said, if the feared North Korean hordes suddenly popped out of their hundreds of tunnels beneath the DMZ and headed south, then you can probably expect that yes, we would contribute military forces to any UN-sponsored force sent to the Korean peninsula to halt this naked aggression.

However, considering more than half the army is already deployed overseas, almost none of the air force‘s CF-18s can work with the USAF because of obsolete equipment, and the navy has decided it‘s taking the next year off, we‘d likely be restricted to harsh words at the UN.

Realistically, of course, the US is not going to let the situation in Korea get out of hand. And unlike in 1950, no one supports the North Koreans, either economically or idealistically -- even the Chinese don‘t want to touch them. The South Korean military is well-trained and well-equipped, and for that matter, so are the Japanese, who I can‘t imagine would just sit back and let the US and RoK fight the DPRK all by themselves -- anti-war constitution notwithstanding.

Frankly, if the political sitation was perfect, I wouldn‘t be surprised if the US launched a pre-emptive strike against North Korea. This is a huge what-if, however, as all the planets and stars would have to be aligned just so, and in the end, is probably as unrealistic as a North Korea invasion of the south.
 
Touche Sherwood!!
To All Canada is still on board for SEATO.
 
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