After the war, an uneasy armistice has held the two countries at bay, each supported by opposing ideological regimes. You might think that the evil North Korean regime deserved all it got and everything is its fault. This would be far from the truth. However, tensions between Korea and the United States go back much further in time, and don’t make Uncle Sam look very good. In the mid-19th century, with opium wars raging and gunboat diplomacy the vogue, to protect itself, Korea suspended all trade with the West. In 1866, a U.S. armed merchant vessel visited Korea to promote trade and entered Korean territorial waters without permission. After several days of fighting, the vessel was sunk. Thwarted, in 1871, the U.S. sent warships to Korea in support of a diplomatic delegation to forcibly open trade and establish political relations. When Korea attacked the American warships, the U.S. sent a retaliatory force, known as the Shinmiyangyo expedition.