Issy, when you have a leading US General saying the following you have division.

"(Korea) The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy" (US General Omar Bradley).

Many of those duped into military involvement in wars, are always conned into believing they are fighting and killing for some lofty moral cause. The reality in Korea was, they were simply the pawns in a world power play, between the United States and the Soviet Union. Why would Australians be involved in such a phony war, I don't know. maybe they liked to be shot at.

Paul,

You claimed that:

"Conscription in WWI
Fools going off to fight the Korean police action
The Vietnam War"

divided the Nation more than SSM, I don't dispute 1 and 3, but your assertion on Korea is a falsehood or is born of ignorance.

So give a reference, a newspaper article of the time, Hansard, (should be a reference in there somewhere), something from the Communist Party archives, anything at all will be considered.

Dear Paul,

The Australian War Memorial tells us that -

"The cost of the war in Korea was immense, particularly
for its people. The attempt by the Communist North to
unite Korea under its rule had been stopped but it had
killed more than 2 million people and turned many Korean
citizens into homeless refugees.

Today Korea is still divided into North and South.

http://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/korea

A few decades ago I compiled an anthology of anti-war Australian
poetry. One of my favourites was a poem by Bruce Dawe, because to
me it is one of the best poems that I have read anywhere about war.
It's called "Homecoming." And although the poem deals with
the various stages in the return of the dead, especially from
Vietnam, it could be in general, from any modern war.

It is a lament for the futility of war expressed by Bruce Dawe
in the detail of the Vietnam War.

Bruce Dawe in this poem, does not accuse or blame, it is
simply an awe-inspiring statement of anguish. After reading and
absorbing this poem, the reader is faced with the question,
will there be any one left to bring home, after a nuclear
war?

Try to get hold of a copy of the poem if you can.
If you haven't already done so.

Foxy,

"Today Korea is still divided into North and South."

as it has been since the end of WWII, however, the South is a prosperous free country and the areas of South Korea which were devastated when I saw them are now the scene of vast improvement, sealed roads where there were dirt jeep tracks, factory buildings galore, our last permanent campsite is a thriving town etc.
When we took up residence the only signs that there had been human habitation there were some dangerous toilet pits and rows of chestnut trees.
Contrast the few areas that I saw in the North, they are still completely unimproved and the paddy fields have reverted to scrub, or I should say are covered in scrubby growth as they had been cultivated land for hundreds of years.

Do you not think that the UNs effort was worth it?

Guys, just a quick heads up. I think we're off topic again.
Just thought I'd mention it.

ALIRAV,

Situation normal!!