After World War II, capitalist countries had tense relations with communist ones, and the ideological conflict grew to encompass the globe. In an attempt to achieve philosophical dominance, Russia and China pressured another communist nation, North Korea, to cross the 38th parallel into neighboring South Korea, a nation supported by the United States. This became a big problem and the United States had to intervene. The war was waged with many countries joining the game. In 1953, however, both sides signed an armistice or treaty to end the fighting. This conflict was the beginning of the Cold War and, although brief, had many effects. The main and problematic effect is that the United States is now a sworn enemy of North Korea. And, at the current rate, the North Koreans are moving toward building missiles capable of attacking the United States. Students should worry about this global problem because it profoundly affects their safety in the United States and will most likely cause problems in the near future. This story of the division of a nation and the ideological differences between them begins in the early 1900s. During this time period and even further back, nations around the world were industrializing and becoming increasingly imperialist; especially Japan. With increasing Western capabilities to travel long distances around the world, Japan had begun to feel the power of Westernization and entered a period called the Meiji Restoration. One result of this move was the war with Russia over the Korean Peninsula. This was called the Russo-Japanese War and Japan prevailed, imperialistically naming Korea as its own. This situation remained until the end of World War II, when Russia and the United States, both fighting Japan, conquered Korea and “[reoccupied] the peninsula…the center of the map…of modern Asia . Ed. Karen Christensen and David Levinson. vol. 4. New York: Sons of Charles Scribner, 2002. 361-362. World history in context. Network. 9 February 2014.4. (NEW) MLA Citation: Sang-Hun, Choe. “Report Says North Korea Is Improving Missile Capabilities.” New York Times February 8, 2014: (L). World history in context. Network. 10 February 2014.5. (NEWS) "North Korea's missile program." BBC News. BBC, 4 December 2013. Web. 03 March 2014.6. (NEWS) “North Korea Country Profile – Overview.” BBC News. BBC, 17 December 2013. Web. 03 March 2014.7. (NEWS) “North Korea, South Korea hold rare high-level talks.” BBC News. BBC, January-February 2014. Web. 03 March 2014.8. (NEWS) “Korea: Joint dictionary aims to bridge cultural gap.” BBC News. BBC, January-February 2014. Web. 03 March 2014.9. (NEWS) "North Korean leader Kim Jong-un welcomes uncle's execution." BBC News. BBC, January-February 2014. Web. 03 March. 2014.