The Korean Conflict
Before World War II, Korea had a rich and diverse history, having been ruled by a variety of rulers. Prior to and during World War II, occupied and ruled the entirety of . Following its defeat, was divided into two separate occupied zones sharing the boundary of the 38th parallel. The process here was quite similar to East and West Berlin. The northern area, or , was administered by the Soviet Union. The southern area, or , was administered by the . It was initially the goal of the and the Soviet Union to have become a unified country; however, in the years immediately following World War II, it became apparent that this was not going to happen. As the Cold War developed in the aftermath of World War II and as two separate and politically, socially and economically diametric nations developed on opposite sides of the 38th parallel, tensions began to mount between the countries. These tensions reached a high point in June of 1950.
It is a commonly held belief that the invasion of by was orchestrated by the Soviet Union. However, the invasion of the South by the North is now viewed as being entirely the creation of . As an aside here, the Soviet Union believed that the Korean situation would result in a war, it just happened sooner than they thought it would. The ruler of the , Syngman Rhee, was becoming increasingly unpopular and this led the Northern Korea ruler, Kim Il Sung, to believe that he would be able to invade and in reunifying the country, quell any opposition to his rule in .
On June 25, 1950, invaded . The immediately provided supplies and made known their support of the South Koreans. Two days later, the United Nations Security Council voted for military sanctions against . The Soviet Union was voluntarily absent from this meeting and the proposed sanction was introduced by the . Three days after the invasion, President Harry Truman ordered armed military forces stationed in to . Ultimately, military forces from Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Great Britain, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Turkey, with medical units from Denmark, India, and Sweden were deployed to Korea under the United Nation Command of General Douglas MacArthur and with operational status under the U.S. Eighth Army. This was the first time that either the United Nations, or its predecessor, the League of Nations, had used military force to repel an invasion. It is important to point out that though military forces from the were deployed, they were deployed under the authority of the United Nations even though President Truman directed much of the operational maneuvers of the conflict. This is significant as in doing so there was no need or requirement for Congress to formally declare war. As this was never done during the entirety of the active combat, the correct name of the struggle is the Korean Conflict, not the Korean War, though to those on the ground in , the distinction between a war and a conflict meant little. To this day, the action is referred to interchangeably as the Korean Conflict or Korean War. On the side of the North, the Soviet Union and communist aided the North Koreans.
Following the deployment of American troops, there was little positive progress as the North Koreans continued to advance, taking the capital of ,Seoul. The and United Nations forces held only a small portion of the countries’ southern peninsula in August of 1950. However, in September of 1950, General MacArthur launched an invasion on the west coast of Korea and the other troops fighting for South Korea pushed through the invaders holding them in the South and advanced toward Seoul, recapturing the city and soon pushing the invaders back above the 38th parallel and deep into the North Korea territory toward the border with China. Hoping to not only roll back, but stop the Communist expansion, President Truman decided to push the North Korean forces back into . However, the Chinese did not like this plan and made it known that if or United Nation’s forces neared or crossed the Yalu River that formed the border between and , then would enter the war on the side of the North Koreans. When advance units approached the Yalu, there were initial skirmishes with Chinese troops; however, shortly after this, massive numbers of Chinese troops attacked the forces from the South. This happened during the winter of 1950 and the bitter cold of coupled with the general overextension of the United Nation’s troops caused them to retreat as the Chinese and Communist troops advanced first into then into . The United Nation’s troops retreated back across the 38th parallel and beyond Seoul that once again fell to the communist.
This caused President Truman to reevaluate his position on the war and rather than risking a third World War over the advance of communism, he made the focus of the action in Korea stopping the advance of communism in the within the country. This led to a spring 1951 offensive in that saw the communist once again being pushed out of into . Again the 38th parallel became the border between the two countries. During this offensive, General MacArthur made it known that his philosophy toward the war was one that favored a more aggressive military approach – he wanted to push all the way through North Korea, into and beyond China all the way to Moscow to stop Communism dead in its tracks. Truman disagreed and MacArthur was relieved of his command.
During the next two years, the bulk of the United Nations military activity was termed “active defense” where forces would probe into then return back across the 38th parallel. As this was going on, both sides built up their forces to the point where there were almost 1.6 million forces active in the war. In the north, the Communist built up a vast armored and mechanized force making the probing maneuvers of the United Nations and South Koreans quite deadly. Though military activity continued through the war, the final two years were essentially a conflict.
The Korean Conflict also marked the first armed conflict in the history of the world where jet aircraft were used in aerial combat. Both the United Nations and the Communist developed jet aircraft that patrolled the skies. Initially, the Soviet MiG’s held air supremacy, but the introduction of the F-86 Sabre gave the United Nations the advantage in the skies. Nearly 100 Sabre’s were lost and nearly 1,000 MiG’s were lost. As well, the United Nations air and sea powers virtually destroyed Chinese supply lines and the North Korean infrastructure.
In June of 1951, the Soviet delegation to the United Nations proposed peace talks. However, there was little trust between the Communist and the non-Communist, so talks waxed and waned for two years. Ultimately, all but one of the issues of the war was settled. This lone issue dealt with forcing a prisoner of war to return to his country against his will. Apparently some of the prisoners wanted to either stay in North or . The compromise was to identify all such prisoners and have them held by a neutral authority for a period of 90 days during which each country could attempt to persuade the individuals to return to their country. A peace accord was signed in July of 1953, ending more than three years of fighting.
In all, the Unites States suffered more than 140,000 casualties and more than 36,000 deaths. Other United Nations countries suffered more than 16,000 casualties and more than 3,000 deaths. The South Koreans suffered more than 1.3 million casualties and more than 415,000 deaths. The Communists suffered more than 2 million casualties. It is estimated that all told, more than 2 million people lost their lives as a result of the Korean Conflict. Following this conflict, much neglect surrounded those that participated in it. As a result of this, it has been called the “Forgotten War” of “Unknown War.” In August of 1995 a memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. on the mall not far from the Vietnam Memorial.
There are a variety of resources on the web related to the Korean Conflict.
