Australian documentary "Ship Ahoy" said South Korea's economic development over half a century was "one of the greatest mysteries of the modern world. (4). Only 60 years have passed since the Korean War, which occurred on June 25, 1950 and continued until the armistice of July 27, 1953. The Cold War (1945 – 1991) between the USSR and the United States United helped start the Korean War. At that time, the USSR wanted Korea to become a communist country while the United States opposed it. Along with the Cold War, the Korean population faced idealistic political conflicts. After five years of internal conflict, the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, with the North supporting communism invading the South supporting democracy (3). This civil war continued until it was paralyzed and divided in 1953, and the remnants of the war struggled to recover. However, although South Korea experienced the aftermath of the Korean War, the nation achieved a sharp increase in its GDP and living standards, using tactics organized by former President Park ChungHee and s opening to the foreign market. catastrophic. After the war, it remained one of the poorest nations in the world until it began to recover in the 1960s. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) was only $79 before the 1960s, which was significantly lower than other developing countries such as the Philippines with $170 and Thailand with $260 (4). Former Japanese colonial rule favoring the North and poor government policies have compounded the economic challenges. The northern half of the peninsula was more developed than the south at the end of colonial rule because the Japanese colonized primarily on...... middle of paper ...... facing poverty » Guardian Weekly. Guardian News and Media, January 24, 2014. Web. January 20, 2014. .2. South Korea. Internet. January 23, 2014. .3. Lee, WonBok Korean History Seoul: GyeMong Press, 2007. Print.South Korea (CIA). Internet. January 23, 2014. .4. South Korea's miraculous economic development YouTube. YouTube, June 9, 2012. Web. February 15, 2014.< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rra4_Glgw10>.5. The economic history of Korea. Internet. January 23, 2014. .6. The Library of Congress. A country study: South Korea. Country studies. Internet. January 23 2014. .