The Korean War: one of the most misunderstood conflicts in history -

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Korea under the Japanese Empire -

The reasons for a civil war breaking out on the Korean Peninsula can be traced back to the turn of the 20th century, when the Japanese Empire invaded the unified and modernizing Korean Empire.

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Korea under the Japanese Empire -

Korea was officially annexed by Japan in 1910, and as a result various nationalist, communist, capitalist, and otherwise revolutionary groups began to spring from the woodwork in defiance of the Japanese government. Up through the end of World War II, these groups were unable to unify, becoming further and further separated by their conflicting beliefs regarding what the future held for Korea.

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Korea in World War II -

In the Pacific Theater of World War II, Korean refugees and revolutionaries were backed by China in their fight against Japan, who had also annexed parts of Chinese Manchuria. After atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan officially surrendered on September 2, 1945, leaving the fate of Korea in the hands of the Allied Powers.

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Korea divided as the spoils of war -

After much deliberation, it was decided that a newly formed North Korea would fall under the jurisdiction of the USSR, and South Korea would become a protectorate of the United States.

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The 38th parallel -

The border between these two new, ethnically identical nations was drawn along the 38th latitudinal parallel. This line was proposed by United States military officers who felt it necessary that the capital of the peninsula, Seoul, stay in US control. To their surprise, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin agreed to the terms.

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Kim Il-sung -

Kim Il-sung, a prominent leader of the Korean communist resistance against Japanese imperialism, was elected premier in 1948, marking the founding of the sovereign state of North Korea.

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Syngman Rhee -

Syngman Rhee was elected as president of South Korea in 1948, after spending decades on and off in the United States. As opposed to Il-sung's platform of communism and close relations with the Soviets, Rhee pushed policies of anti-communism and fought against most negotiations with China or the Soviets. The occupying forces of both Koreas left the peninsula by 1949.

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Unrest in the peninsula -

North Korea, with the more generous and immediate help of its communist neighbors, quickly began to flourish socially, economically, and militarily. South Korea, under the poor and corrupt leadership of Rhee, continued to suffer from economic strife and serious political unrest among the populace. Neither Il-sung nor Rhee truly considered the border on the 38th to be permanent, and both aspired for a reunified Korea under their respective rules.

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Socialist uprisings in South Korea -

In South Korea, independent and North Korean-backed communist uprisings regularly broke out around the country, starting shortly after Rhee's election. The first uprising started in April 1948 on the large southern island of Jeju and lasted until 1949. Apart from the mass arrests carried out by the South Korean government, 30,000 Koreans died in the conflict, half of whom were civilians.

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The first border disputes -

Border disputes along the 38th parallel also started to flare up almost immediately after the departure of each country's respective occupying forces. Thousands of Korean lives from both sides were lost in guerilla-style battles in the mountainous regions in the center of the peninsula.

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Invasion from the North -

Preoccupied with the persistent insurgencies deep within South Korea, the presence of South Korean fighters dropped dramatically by 1950, giving Il-sung the chance to invade that he had ostensibly been waiting for. With Stalin's blessing from Moscow, North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel at dawn on June 25, 1950.

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Official reasons for the invasion -

Although border clashes had slowed down by June, they had not stopped entirely, and many were reportedly instigated by South Korea. Il-sung used these attacks to legitimize his invasion, adding his army was to "arrest and execute the bandit traitor Syngman Rhee." Scholars to this day disagree as to who truly fired first at the first point of contact, Ongjin Peninsula, but regardless, Il-sung's better equipped and better prepared army quickly swept into South Korean territory.

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The Hangang Bridge bombing -

Two days after, North Korea's Korean People's Army (KPA) were ready to descend upon Seoul. Rhee had already fled to the southeastern coastal city of Busan, and ordered his Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) to blow up the Hangang Bridge, one of the primary routes into Seoul. The bridge was detonated in the early hours of June 28, while an estimated 4,000 refugees were attempting to flee the city, killing hundreds.

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The First Battle of Seoul -

Seoul fell into the KPA's control within hours. In the months leading up to the invasion, the USSR had helped North Korea amass a huge armament of tanks, heavy artillery, and aircraft. The ROKA, with no tanks or anti-tank equipment of their own to speak of, quickly succumbed to the KPA's barrage of artillery and tank fire.

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Official UN intervention -

The US and United Nations were preoccupied with the security of their European interests in the wake of World War II, and thus were caught off-guard by the invasion of the 38th. UN Security Council meetings were immediately held after word of the invasion spread, and member states unanimously (during a time when the USSR was boycotting the UN) agreed that they were obligated to assist South Korea in the conflict.

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Why did the US join the war? -

The US government, under President Harry S. Truman, was at first hesitant to join a new war effort. Ultimately, however, they decided that aiding South Korea was necessary to stop the spread of communism throughout the East. If South Korea was taken, they feared Japan would be next.

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Korea as a proxy -

The overarching Cold War between the capitalist United States and the communist USSR saw many "proxy wars" take place in other countries around the globe, and the Korean War was the first. While Koreans were engaged in a civil war that only concerned the peninsula they called home, the respective superpowers behind them were fighting for global influence and control at the cost of countless lives.

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The Pusan Perimeter -

Even as American and United Nations Command (UNC) support began to arrive, the ROKA and their allies continued to be pushed further and further down the peninsula, until they were eventually defending only what is now known as the Pusan Perimeter: the southeasternmost tip of the country, centered around the port of Pusan (or Busan), where Rhee and his government were in hiding.

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The Pusan Perimeter -

In a last-ditch rally, 140,000 UNC troops, including the last remnants of the ROKA, set up an impenetrable wall of firepower around the 140-mile (230-km) long perimeter. With a steady supply of reinforcements and munitions coming in from the sea, UNC/ROKA forces were able to fight off six weeks of KPA attacks. The KPA, with long and weakened supply lines heading all the way back up past the 38th parallel, were eventually forced to retreat.

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The Bloody Gulch massacre -

Part of the six-week long Battle of Pusan Perimeter, the much smaller Battle of Masan ended in tragedy for the UNC when 75 of their men were captured as prisoners of war. After their surrender and capture, all 75 men were executed by KPA troops. This was only one of many war crimes committed during the Korean War.

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The tables turn in Incheon -

Following the overall success of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, the UNC was quick to push North Korean forces even closer to the 38th parallel. The next attack, would be a land-and-sea assault on Incheon, the port closest to Seoul, which at the time sat 100 miles (160 km) behind the KPA's front line.

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The Battle of Incheon on the return to the 38th -

On September 15, 1950, 230 navy ships and around 40,000 UNC soldiers descended upon Incheon. The entirely unprepared KPA presence, outnumbered six to one, were bombed to oblivion along with most of the town. Two weeks later, South Korea and the UNC had recaptured Seoul and pushed the KPA back across the 38th parallel.

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Invasion from the South -

The UNC, led by Commander-in-Chief General Douglas MacArthur, swiftly pushed northward now that the KPA's winning streak was officially over and the tides of war changed in favor of the South. Rejuvenated ROKA forces sped on to capture key North Korean ports, and by October 19, Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, was under UNC control.

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The bombing of North Korea -

Bombing campaigns carried out by the UNC started as soon as they entered the war, but quickly shifted from targeted attacks to indiscriminate destruction once South Korea and co. gained the upper hand. An order originating from General MacArthur was issued November 5, 1950, ordering the air forces to destroy "all buildings capable of providing shelter," regardless of their military or civilian status. Explosives, firebombs, and napalm caused the destruction of no less than 85% of the buildings in North Korea.

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China joins the war -

Since the beginning of the war in June 1950, Kim Il-Sung's communist ally and neighbor China, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, had been watching the conflict quietly, but closely. Witnessing the rapid approach of UNC soldiers towards the Chinese border after the capture of Pyongyang, Mao and his cabinet decided to officially join the fight with North Korea. The organized and experienced People's Volunteer Army (PVA) were instrumental in pushing the fight back, once more, to the 38th parallel.

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The Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River -

Some 200,000 PVA forces crossed into North Korea on October 18, 1950, and joined the remaining KPA forces. China's involvement caught South Korea and the UNC off-guard, and pushed the front line down to the Ch'ongch'on River, 50 miles (80 km) from the Chinese border.

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The Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River -

China's PVA troops launched a surprise attack on the night of November 25, quickly pushing through the unsuspecting UNC troops, allowing KPA soldiers to move in and and launch a number of attacks behind the UNC's front lines. The two sides, evenly matched, inflicted heavy losses on each other, but South Korea and the UNC were ultimately forced to retreat 120 miles (190 km) back to the 38th parallel.

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The first peace talks -

The return to the 38th compelled the UNC to attempt peace talks with China. While the UNC no longer wished to feed more troops or supplies into the peninsula, China had become emboldened by their initial victories and negotiations quickly fell apart.

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Mao's war of attrition -

Through December and the first half of 1951, the PVA and KPA pushed into South Korean territory. Seoul was passed between powers no less than four times, with the communist forces eventually being pushed, once again, back to the 38th parallel. Mao, confident that he could wear down the UNC, adopted a policy of attrition, throwing an unrelenting stream of firepower and manpower against South Korean and United Nations forces.

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The stalemate -

The UNC, however, uneager to waste resources but even more unwilling to allow South Korea to fall under communist control, continued to hold the line of the 38th.

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The stalemate -

Constant, brutal fighting continued throughout the last two years of the war, but only minimal territory was ever gained or lost. Peace talks eventually began to look more and more attractive to all parties involved, as the war became nothing more than a black hole for human lives and military resources.

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The Korean Armistice Agreement -

The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed by representatives of China, North Korea, and the United Nations Command on July 27, 1953. Syngman Rhee refused to agree to the armistice, unwilling to officially give up his fight for a unified Korea. Some 76,000 communist POWs were traded for 13,000 UN POWs some days after, in Operation Big Switch.

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The never-ending war -

All in all, an estimated five million people, most of whom were Korean and half of whom were civilians, lost their lives in a war fought first for a unified Korea and later for global ideological supremacy. Today, the agreed-upon border between the North and South is almost identical to the border drawn in 1945 along the 38th parallel. Since no peace treaty was ever signed, and since South Korea didn't sign the armistice agreement, the Korean War technically never ended. Tensions between the two Koreas remain high to this day.

Sources: (Britannica) (History) (PBS)

See also: The longest and shortest wars in history

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