Aftermath
- Korean civilian casualties, dead, wounded and missing totaled between three and four million during the three years of war.
- Both nations suffered massive damage to their economies and infrastructure as a result of bombings and artillery strikes.The economies of both North and South Korea took a major hit during and after the war. While North Korea recovered fairly quickly after the war, it slowed down rapidly and is almost nonexistent today. South Korea, on the other hand, took a long time to begin recovery but today is a booming economy.
- South Korea was able to modernize and industrialize with the help of the United States. In contrast, North Korea's economy was, by the 1980s, quite weak and has remained in poor condition.
Recent media reports on reunions in Korea estimate that as many as one million civilians in the northern part of the country fled south ahead of the Communists in the early days of fighting. So many left not just property, but also close relatives. In fact, this year's government-sponsored reunions in North Korea brought together some of those families after 50 years of exile.
- The Korean War was important in the development of the Cold War, as it gave rise to the idea that the two superpowers, United States and Soviet Union, could fight a "limited war".