How far do you agree that the Korean War was a war without winners?

I believe to a great extent that the Korean War was a war with winners. While the U.S.A and South Korea gained economic victories, China and the U.S.S.R benefited politically. The fact that not one singular country benefited in all aspects proves that there was no outright winner in this war however.

Economically speaking, the U.S.A was victorious, gaining a 10% rise in GDP following the end of the Korean War. This was due to a great amount of military expenditure and employment. Moreover, the U.S.A returned economic prosperity to Japan and successfully gained a buffer state to communism in the form of South Korea. However, we must note that there were also failures, such as the fact that total military expenditure in the war rose from 4% to 14% of their GNP for no apparent reward. While the U.S.A were obvious victors in this aspect, there were also clear losers. These were North Korea and the U.S.S.R. Russia gave North Korea $500 million dollars a year, which resulted in no advance in the spread of communism. Russia was also dependant on North Korea for a positive economic result which it didn’t get. It was a similar situation for North Korea, who had 8,700 industrial plants knocked down and 600 000 homes destroyed.

With concern to human cost, it can be argued that Russia were the true victors. They sustained very few casualties in return for a much bigger reward than U.S.A or China as they gained a buffer state in North Korea and now had another communist ally in China. This, however, cannot be said for the U.S.A, China, or Korea. There were a total of 415,000 killed in Korea and a further 429,000 injured. This statistic, accompanied by the fact that neither political party ruled the whole of Korea, shows that neither side won this battle. China lost 150,000 men and the U.S.A 33,651,