Korean War Totally Explained

Everything about Korean War totally explained

The Korean War was an escalation of border clashes between two rival Korean regimes, each of which was supported by external powers, with each trying to topple the other through political and conventional tactics. In a very narrow sense, some may refer to it as a civil war, though many other factors were at play. After failing to strengthen their cause in the free elections held in South Korea during May 1950 and the refusal of South Korea to hold new elections per North Korean demands, the communist North Korean Army assaulted the South on June 25, 1950. The conflict was then expanded by the United States and the Soviet Union's involvement as part of the larger Cold War. The main hostilities were during the period from June 25, 1950 until the armistice (ceasefire agreement) was signed on July 27, 1953.
In South Korea, the war is often called 6·25 or 6·25 War (Korean: 6·25 전쟁), from the date of the start of the conflict or, more formally, Hanguk Jeonjaeng (Korean: 한국전쟁; Hanja: 韓國戰爭, literally "Korean War"). In North Korea, while commonly known as the Korean War, it's formally called the Jogug Gaebang Jeonjaeng or Fatherland Liberation War (Korean: 조국해방전쟁; Hanja: 祖國解放戰爭). In the United States, the conflict was officially termed a police action — the Korean Conflict — rather than a war, largely in order to avoid the necessity of a declaration of war by the U.S. Congress. The war is sometimes called The Forgotten War or The Unknown War because it's a major conflict of the 20th century that gets far less attention than World War II, which preceded it, and the Vietnam War, which succeeded it. Ironically, the war was a unique combination of the techniques utilized in both WW1 and WW2, beginning with swift, fast paced infantry advances following well choreographed bombing raids from the air. However, following both sides' failures at holding the land captured, battles quickly evolved into WW1-styled trench warfare in January 1951, lasting until the essential border stalemate at the end. In China, the conflict was known as the War to Resist America and Aid Korea, but is today commonly called the "Korean War" ( Chaoxian Zhanzheng, 韓國戰爭 Hanguo Zhanzheng, or simply 韓戰 Hanzhan).

Last Japanese occupation

Korea had been a unified country since the 7th century. During the 19th century imperialist nations threatened Korea's long standing sovereignty. After defeating China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, the Japanese forces remained in Korea, occupying strategically important parts of the country. Ten years later, they defeated the Russian navy in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), contributing to Japan's emergence as an imperial power. The Japanese continued to occupy the peninsula against the wishes of the Korean government and people, expanded their control over local institutions through force, and finally annexed Korea in August 1910.
At the close of World War II, forces of both the Soviet Union and the United States occupied the Korean peninsula in accordance with an agreement put forth by the United States government. The Soviet forces entered the Korean peninsula on August 10, 1945, followed a few weeks later by the American forces who entered through Incheon. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge formally accepted the surrender of Japanese forces south of the 38th Parallel on September 9, 1945 at the Government House in Seoul.
Many Korean people had organized politically prior to the arrival of American troops.

Post-World War II division of Korea

The eventual division of Korea was considered at the Potsdam Conference, Stalin believed that Russia should have preeminence in China, and in return he'd enter into the war against Japan “three months after the surrender of Germany.” Rusk, later U.S. Secretary of State, commented that the American military was “faced with the scarcity of U.S. forces immediately available and time and space factors which would make it difficult to reach very far north before Soviet troops could enter the area.”.
   In South Korea, an anti-trusteeship right wing group known as the Representative Democratic Council emerged, this group came to oppose these U.S. sponsored agreements. Because Koreans had suffered under Japanese colonization for 35 years, most Koreans opposed another period of foreign control. This opposition caused the U.S. to abandon the Soviet supported Moscow Accords. The Americans didn't want a communist government in South Korea so they called for elections in all of Korea. Since the population of the South was double that of the North, the Soviets knew that Kim Il-sung would lose the election.
The government that emerged was led by anti-communist U.S.-educated strongman Syngman Rhee, a Korean who had been imprisoned by the Japanese as a young man and later then fled to the United States. The Soviets, in turn, approved and furthered the rise of a Communist government in the North. Bolstered by his history as an anti-Japanese fighter, his political skills, and his connections with the Soviet Union, Kim Il-sung rose to become leader of this new government and crushed any opposition to his rule by the summer of 1947. Although Kim and his close associates believed in unifying Korea by force, Stalin was reluctant to embark on a course that might provoke a war with the United States.
   On January 12, 1950, United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson gave a speech declaring that America’s Pacific defense perimeter was made up of the Aleutians, Ryukyu, Japan, and the Philippines, implying that America might not fight over Korea. Acheson said Korea’s defense would be the responsibility of the United Nations.
   In mid 1949, Kim Il-Sung pressed his case with Joseph Stalin that the time had come for a reunification of the Korean Peninsula. Kim needed Soviet support to successfully execute an offensive far across a rugged, mountainous peninsula. Stalin, however refused support, concerned with the relative lack of preparedness of the North Korean armed forces and with possible U.S. involvement.
   Over the next year, the North Korean leadership molded its army into a relatively formidable offensive war machine modeled partly on a Soviet mechanized force but strengthened primarily by an influx of Korean veterans who had served with the Chinese People's Liberation Army since the 1930s. By early 1950 the possibility of reunification through insurgency seemed closed, and Rhee's regime was gaining in strength if not popularity. Kim was left with the sole option of conventional invasion if he wished to unify Korea as a communist dictatorship before the Southern government became strong enough to defend itself. Coincidentally, on March 9, 1950, North Korea had agreed to send to the Soviet Union 9 tons of gold, 40 tons of silver, and 15,000 tons of monazite concentrate as payment for additional Soviet arms, ammunition and military technical equipment.

Course

Invasion of South Korea

Under the guise of a counter-attack, the North Korean Army struck in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, June 25, 1950, crossing the 38th parallel behind a firestorm of artillery. The North claimed Republic of Korea Army (ROK) troops under the “bandit traitor Syngman Rhee" had crossed the border first, and that Rhee would be arrested and executed.

Invasion of North Korea

The United Nations troops drove the North Koreans back past the 38th parallel.
The UN forces crossed into North Korea in early October 1950. The U.S. X Corps made amphibious landings at Wonsan and Iwon, which had already been captured by South Korean forces advancing by land. The Eighth U.S. Army, along with the South Koreans, drove up the western side of Korea and captured Pyongyang on October 19. By the end of October, the North Korean Army was rapidly disintegrating, and the UN took 135,000 prisoners.
The UN offensive greatly concerned the Chinese, who worried that the UN forces wouldn't stop at the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China, and might extend their rollback policy into China. Many in the West, including General MacArthur, thought that spreading the war to China would be necessary and that since North Korean troops were being supplied by bases in China, those supply depots should be bombed. However, Truman and the other leaders disagreed, and MacArthur was ordered to be very cautious when approaching the Chinese border.

Chinese intervention

China warned American leaders through neutral diplomats that it would intervene to protect its national security. Truman regarded the warnings as “a bald attempt to blackmail the U.N.” and didn't take it seriously. The Chinese Government argued that in making Japan its main war base in the Far East, launching an invasion against Korea and the Chinese province of Taiwan, and carrying out active intervention in other countries in Asia, the United States was building up a military encirclement of China.
   On October 15, 1950, Truman went to Wake Island for a short, highly publicized meeting with MacArthur. The CIA had previously told Truman that Chinese involvement was unlikely. MacArthur, saying he was speculating, saw little risk. MacArthur explained that the Chinese had lost their window of opportunity to help North Korea’s invasion. He estimated the Chinese had 300,000 soldiers in Manchuria, with between 100,000-125,000 men along the Yalu; half could be brought across the Yalu. But the Chinese had no air force; hence, “if the Chinese tried to get down to Pyongyang, there would be the greatest slaughter.” MacArthur assumed that Chinese wished to avoid heavy casualties.
On October 8, 1950, the day after American troops crossed the 38th parallel, Chairman Mao Zedong issued the order to assemble the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army. Seventy percent of the members of the PVA were Chinese regulars from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Mao ordered the army to move to the Yalu River, ready to cross. Mao sought Soviet aid and saw intervention as essentially defensive: “If we allow the U.S. to occupy all of Korea… we must be prepared for the U.S. to declare… war with China,” he told Stalin. Premier Zhou Enlai was sent to Moscow to add force to Mao’s cabled arguments. Mao delayed while waiting for substantial Soviet help, postponing the planned attack from October 13 to October 19. However, Soviet assistance was limited to providing air support no nearer than sixty miles (100 km) from the battlefront. The Soviet MiG-15s in PRC colors did pose a serious challenge to UN pilots. In one area nicknamed “MiG Alley” by UN forces, they held local air superiority against the American-made Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars until the newer North American F-86 Sabres were deployed. The Chinese were angry at the limited extent of Soviet involvement, having assumed that they'd been promised full scale air support.
The Chinese made contact with American troops on November 1, 1950. Thousands of Chinese had attacked from the north, northwest, and west against scattered U.S. and South Korean (Republic of Korea or ROK) units moving deep into North Korea. The Chinese seemed to come out of nowhere as they swarmed around the flanks and over the defensive positions of the surprised United Nations (UN) troops.
   U.S. intelligence, sketchy during this phase for various reasons, didn't work as well in North Korea as it had in South Korea during the days of the Pusan Perimeter. The Chinese march and bivouac discipline also minimized any possible detection. In a well-documented instance, a Chinese army of three divisions marched on foot from An-tung in Manchuria, on the north side of the Yalu River, 286 miles (460 km) to its assembly area in North Korea, in the combat zone, in a period ranging from 16 to 19 days. One division of this army, marching at night over circuitous mountain roads, averaged 18 miles (29 km) per day for 18 days. The day's march began after dark at 19:00 and ended at 03:00 the next morning. Defense measures against aircraft were to be completed before 05:30. Every man, animal, and piece of equipment were to be concealed and camouflaged. During daylight, bivouac scouting parties moved ahead to select the next day's bivouac area. When Chinese units were compelled for any reason to march by day, they were under standing orders for every man to stop in his tracks and remain motionless if aircraft appeared overhead. Officers were empowered to shoot any man who violated this order. In the east, at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, a 30,000 man unit from the U.S. 7th Infantry Division and U.S. Marine Corps was also unprepared for the Chinese tactics and was soon surrounded, though they eventually managed to escape the encirclement, albeit with over 15,000 casualties, after inflicting heavy casualties on six Chinese divisions.
   While the Chinese soldiers initially lacked heavy fire support and light infantry weapons, their tactics quickly adapted to this disadvantage, as explained by Bevin Alexander in his book How Wars Are Won:
� "The usual method was to infiltrate small units, from a platoon of fifty men to a company of 200, split into separate detachments. While one team cut off the escape route of the Americans, the others struck both the front and the flanks in concerted assaults. The attacks continued on all sides until the defenders were destroyed or forced to withdraw. The Chinese then crept forward to the open flank of the next platoon position, and repeated the tactics."

Roy Appleman further clarified the initial Chinese tactics as: � "In the First Phase Offensive, highly skilled enemy light infantry troops had carried out the Chinese attacks, generally unaided by any weapons larger than mortars. Their attacks had demonstrated that the Chinese were well-trained disciplined fire fighters, and particularly adept at night fighting. They were masters of the art of camouflage. Their patrols were remarkably successful in locating the positions of the UN forces. They planned their attacks to get in the rear of these forces, cut them off from their escape and supply roads, and then send in frontal and flanking attacks to precipitate the battle. They also employed a tactic which they termed Hachi Shiki, which was a V-formation into which they allowed enemy forces to move; the sides of the V then closed around their enemy while another force moved below the mouth of the V to engage any forces attempting to relieve the trapped unit. Such were the tactics the Chinese used with great success at Onjong, Unsan, and Ch'osan but with only partial success at Pakch'on and the Ch'ongch'on bridgehead."

Fighting across the 38th Parallel (early 1951)

In January 1951, the Chinese and North Korean forces struck again in their 3rd Phase Offensive (also known as the Chinese Winter Offensive). The Chinese repeated their previous tactics of mostly night attacks, with a stealthy approach from positions some distance from the front, followed by a rush with overwhelming numbers, and using trumpets or gongs both for communication and to disorient their foes. Against this the UN forces had no remedy, and their resistance crumbled; they retreated rapidly to the south (referred to by UN forces as the “bug-out”). Seoul was abandoned and was captured by communist forces on January 4, 1951.
   To add to the Eighth Army’s difficulties, General Walker was killed in an accident. He was replaced by a World War II airborne veteran, Lieutenant-General Matthew Ridgway, who took immediate steps to raise the morale and fighting spirit of the battered Eighth Army, which had fallen to low levels during its retreat. Nevertheless, the situation was so grim that MacArthur mentioned the use of atomic weapons against China, much to the alarm of America’s allies.
UN forces continued to retreat until they'd reached a line south of Suwon in the west and Wonju in the center, and north of Samchok in the east, where the front stabilized. The People's Volunteer Army had outrun its supply line and was forced to recoil. The Chinese couldn't go beyond Seoul because they were at the end of their logistics supply line — all food and ammunition had to be carried at night on foot or bicycle from the Yalu River.
   In late January, finding the lines in front of his forces deserted, Ridgway ordered reconnaissance in force, which developed into a full-scale offensive, Operation Roundup. The operation was planned to proceed gradually, to make full use of the UN's superiority in firepower on the ground and in the air; by the time Roundup was completed in early February, UN forces had reached the Han River and re-captured Wonju.
   The Chinese struck back in mid-February with their Fourth Phase Offensive, from Hoengsong in the center against IX Corps positions around Chipyong-ni. A short but desperate siege there fought by units of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, including the French Battalion, broke up the offensive; in this action, the UN learned how to deal with Chinese offensive tactics and be able to stand their ground.
   Roundup was followed in the last two weeks of February 1951, with Operation Killer, by a revitalized Eighth Army, restored by Ridgway to fighting trim. This was a full-scale offensive across the front, again staged to maximize firepower and with the aim of destroying as much of the Chinese and North Korean armies as possible. By the end of Killer, I Corps had re-occupied all territory south of the Han, while IX Corps had captured Hoengsong.
   On March 7, 1951, the Eighth Army pushed forward again, in Operation Ripper, and on March 14 they expelled the North Korean and Chinese troops from Seoul, the fourth time in a year the city had changed hands. Seoul was in utter ruins; its prewar population of 1.5 million had dropped to 200,000, with severe food shortages.
   On November 29, 1952, U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfilled a campaign promise by going to Korea to find out what could be done to end the conflict. With the UN's acceptance of India’s proposal for a Korean armistice, a cease-fire was established on July 27, 1953, by which time the front line was back around the proximity of the 38th parallel, and so a demilitarized zone (DMZ) was established around it, presently defended by North Korean troops on one side and by South Korean, American and UN troops on the other. The DMZ runs north of the parallel towards the east, and to the south as it travels west. The site of the peace talks, Kaesong, the old capital of Korea, was part of the South before hostilities broke out but is currently a special city of the North. North Korea and the United States signed the, with Syngman Rhee refusing to sign.

Casualties

The total numbers of casualties suffered by all parties involved may never be known. In Western countries, the numbers have been subjected to numerous scholarly reviews, and in the case of one U.S. estimate, the number was revised after a clerical error was discovered. Each country's self-reported casualties were largely based upon troop movements, unit rosters, battle casualty reports, and medical records.
   The Western numbers of Chinese and/or North Korean casulties are based primarily on battle reports of estimated casualties, interrogation of POWs and captured documents.
   The Chinese estimation of UN casualties states that the joint declaration of the Chinese People's Volunteers and the Korean People's Army said their forces "eliminated 1.09 million enemy forces, including 390,000 from the United States, 660,000 from South Korean, and 29,000 from other countries." The vague "eliminated" number gave no details to that of dead, wounded and captured. Regarding their own casualties, the same source said that "the Chinese People's Volunteers suffered 148,000 deaths altogether (among which 114,000 died in combat, incidents, and winterkill, 21,000 died after being hospitalized and 13,000 died from diseases); 380,000 were wounded and 29,000 missing, including 21,400 POWs (of whom 14,000 were sent to Taiwan, 7,110 were repatriated)." This same source concluded with these numbers for North Korean casualties, "the Korean People's Army had 290,000 casualties and 90,000 POWs; there was a large number of civilian deaths in the northern part of Korea, but no accurate figures were available."
   The casulties of the various UN forces are listed in the infobox, along with their estimates of Chinese and North Korean forces.

Characteristics

Armored warfare

In the initial invasion stage of the war, North Korean armor was able to establish dominance using their Soviet-supplied T-34-85 medium tanks. The WW2-vintage North Korean tanks were facing a South Korean force with no tanks of their own and few modern anti-tank weapons.
The South Korean army had anti-tank rockets but these were World War II vintage 2.36 inch (60 mm) M9 bazookas. The bazooka rocket could easily penetrate the 45mm side armor of the T-34-85s at any range, but the bazooka was nonetheless found to be ineffective.
As U.S. forces arrived in Korea, they were accompanied only by light M24 Chaffee tanks which had been left in Japan for post-WWII occupation duties (heavier tanks would have torn up Japanese roads). These light tanks were ineffective against the larger North Korean T-34-85 tanks. U.S. 105 mm howitzers were used on at least one occasion to fire HEAT ammunition over open sights.
As the U.S. buildup continued, shipments of heavier American tanks such as the M4 Sherman, the M26 Pershing, the M46 Patton, and the British Centurion as well as American and Allied ground attack aircraft were able to reverse the Communists' tank advantage.
However, in contrast to World War II's heavy emphasis on armor, few open tank battles actually occurred over the course of the Korean War. The country's heavily forested and mountainous terrain, as well as the poor road network, meant that tanks were able to operate only in small groups.

Air warfare

F-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair and aircraft carrier-based Hawker Sea Fury and Supermarine Seafire were used. Turbojet fighter aircraft such as F-80s and F9F Panthers came to dominate the skies, overwhelming North Korea’s propeller-driven Yakovlev Yak-9s and Lavochkin La-9s.
   From 1950, North Koreans began flying the Soviet-made MiG-15 jet fighters, some of which were piloted by experienced Soviet Air Force pilots, a casus belli deliberately overlooked by the UN allied forces who were reluctant to engage in open war with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. At first, UN jet fighters, which also included Royal Australian Air Force Gloster Meteors, had some success, but the superior quality of the MiGs soon held sway over the first-generation jets used by the UN early in the war.
   In December 1950, the U.S. Air Force began using the F-86 Sabre. The MiG could fly higher, 50,000 vs., offering a distinct advantage at the start of combat. In level flight, their maximum speeds were comparable — about . The MiG could climb better, while the Sabre could turn and dive better. For weapons, the MiG carried two 23 mm and one 37 mm cannon, compared to the Sabre’s six .50 (12.7 mm) caliber machine guns. The American .50 caliber machine guns, while not packing the same punch, carried many more rounds and were aimed with a superior radar-ranging gunsight. The U.S. pilots also had the advantage of G-suits, which were used for the first time in this war. However, maintenance was an issue with the Sabre, and a large proportion of the UN air strength was grounded because of repairs during the war.
Even after the United States Air Force introduced the advanced F-86, its pilots often struggled against the jets piloted by elite Soviet pilots. The UN gradually gained air superiority over most of Korea that lasted until the end of the war — a decisive factor in helping the UN first advance into the north, and then resist the Chinese invasion of South Korea. The Chinese and North Koreans also had jet power, but their training and experience were limited. With the introduction of the F-86F in late 1952, the Soviet and American aircraft had virtually identical performance characteristics.
   After the war, the USAF claimed 792 MiG-15s and 108 additional aircraft shot down by Sabres for the loss of 78 Sabres, a ratio in excess of 10:1. Some post-war research has been able to confirm only 379 victories, although the USAF continues to maintain its official credits and the debate is possibly irreconcilable.
   The Soviets claimed about 1,100 air-to-air victories and 335 combat MiG losses at that time. China’s official losses were 231 planes shot down in air-to-air combat (mostly MiG-15) and 168 other losses. The number of losses of the North Korean Air Force wasn't revealed. It is estimated that it lost about 200 aircraft in the first stage of the war, and another 70 aircraft after Chinese intervention. Soviet claims of 650 victories over the Sabres, and China’s claims of another 211 F-86s, are considered to be exaggerated by the USAF. According to a recent U.S. publication, the number of F-86s ever present in the Korean peninsula during the war totaled only 674 and the total F-86 losses from all causes were about 230.
   Direct comparison of Sabre and MiG losses seem irrelevant, since primary targets for MiGs were heavy B-29 Superfortress bombers and ground-attack aircraft, while the primary targets for Sabres were MiG-15s.
   By early 1951, the battle lines hardened and didn't change much for the rest of the conflict. Throughout the summer and early fall of 1951, the outnumbered Sabres (as few as 44 at one point) of the 4th FIW continued to seek battle in MiG Alley near the Yalu against an enemy fielding as many as 500 planes, although only a fraction of these were operational and active. Following Colonel Harrison Thyng’s famous message to the Pentagon, the 51st FIW reinforced the beleaguered 4th in December 1951. For the next year and a half, the combat continued in generally the same fashion.

Naval Warfare

As North Korea had no significant naval presence, naval battles were very infrequent. The only significant "battle" took place on July 2, 1950, between the U.S. cruiser Juneau, the British cruiser Jamaica, and the British frigate Black Swan, against four North Korean torpedo boats and two North Korean mortar gunboats. The torpedo boats attempted to attack but they were qucikly destroyed by the Anglo-American fleet. Numerous other communist ships were sunk during the war. Supply and ammunition ships were sunk by U.N. forces, deninng use of the sea to the North Koreans. Juneau sunk several ammunition ships that had been present in her previous battle. The last instance of ship-to-ship battle in the war occurred at Inchon a few days before the battle, when the ROK ship PC 703 sank an enemy mine laying craft and three other vessels in waters off the Yellow Sea port. For the remainder of the war, the role of the navies was to provide shore bombardment.

Proposed use of nuclear weapons

Historian Bruce Cumings believes that Truman's allusions to the possibility of nuclear weapons use at a press conference on November 30, 1950 "was a threat based on contingency planning to use the bomb, rather than the faux pas so many assumed it to be." Cumings argues that Truman sought MacArthur's removal primarily because he felt that MacArthur wouldn't be reliable enough in a situation where Washington had decided to use atomic weapons. Cumings notes that the same day as the press conference, orders were sent between top Air Forces generals for the Strategic Air Command to "augment its capacities and that this should include “atomic capabilities."
Six days later, on December 6, 1950, after the Chinese intervention had forced the UN forces into a retreat from northern North Korea, General J. Lawton Collins (Army Chief of Staff), General MacArthur, Admiral C. Turner Joy, and General Stratemeyer, and with key staff officers, Hickey, Willoughby, and Wright, met in Tokyo for a full discussion of what moves to take against the Chinese. They projected three hypothetical scenarios covering the next few weeks or months.

War crimes

Crimes against civilians

   South Korean military, police and paramilitary forces, often with U.S. military knowledge and without trial, executed in turn tens of thousands of leftist inmates and alleged communist sympathizers in the incidents such as the massacre of the political prisoners from the Daejeon Prison and the bloody crackdown on the Cheju Uprising. Gregory Henderson, a U.S. diplomat in Korea at the time, put the total figure at 100,000, and the bodies of those killed were often dumped into mass graves. Recently, the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission has received reports of more than 7,800 cases of civilian killings in 150 locations across the country where mass killings of civilians took place before and during the war.
   Korean forces on both sides routinely rounded up and forcibly conscripted both males and females in their area of operations; thousands of them never returned home. According to the estimate by R. J. Rummel, a professor at the University of Hawaii, some 400,000 South Korean citizens were conscripted into the North Korean Army. North Korea insists the South Koreans defected voluntarily and were not held against their will.
   For a time, American troops were under orders to consider any Korean civilians on the battlefield approaching their position as hostile, and were instructed to "neutralize" them because of fears of infiltration. This led to the indiscriminate killings of hundreds of South Korean civilians by the U.S. military at places such as No Gun Ri, where many defenseless refugees — most of whom were women, children and old men — were shot at by the U.S. Army and may have been strafed by the U.S. Air Force. Recently, the U.S. admitted having a policy of strafing civilians in other places and times.

Crimes against POWs

The North Koreans severely mistreated prisoners of war. Historical accounts report frequent communist-imposed beatings, starvation, forced labor, summary executions, and death marches on UN prisoners. North Korean and Chinese forces committed several massacres of captured U.S. troops at places such as Hill 312 and Hill 303 on the Pusan Perimeter, and in and around Daejeon; this occurred during early "mopping-up" actions. According to the U.S. Congressional report, "More than 5,000 American prisoners of war died because of Communist war atrocities and more than a thousand who survived were victims of war crime (...) Approximately two-thirds of all American prisoners of war in Korea died due to war crimes." The Chinese also used brainwashing "re-education" techniques on their prisoners.
The communists claimed having captured more than 70,000 South Korean soldiers, but they repatriated only 8,000. (In contrast, South Korea repatriated 76,000 North Korean POWs.) In addition to some 12,000 deaths in captivity, some 50,000 South Korean POWs might have been press-ganged into the North Korean military. Pyongyang denied holding any POWs.

Legacy

The Korean War was the first armed confrontation of the Cold War and set the standard for many later conflicts. It created the idea of a limited war, where the two superpowers would fight in another country, forcing the people in that nation to suffer the bulk of the destruction and death involved in a war between such large nations. The superpowers avoided descending into an all-out war with one another, as well as the mutual use of nuclear weapons. It also expanded the Cold War, which to that point had mostly been concerned with Europe.
   The Korean War damaged both Koreas heavily. Although South Korea stagnated economically in the decade following the war, it was later able to modernize and industrialize. In contrast, the North Korean economy recovered quickly after the war and until around 1975 surpassed that of South Korea. However, North Korea's economy eventually slowed. Today, the North Korean economy is virtually nonexistent while the South Korean economy is expanding. The CIA World Factbook estimates North Korea's GDP (PPP) to be $40 billion, which is a mere 3.34% of South Korea's $1.196 trillion GDP (PPP). The North's per capita income is $1,800, which is 7.35% of South Korea's $24,500 per capita income.
   A heavily guarded demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the 38th Parallel continues to divide the peninsula today. Anti-Communist and anti-North Korea sentiment still remain in South Korea today, and most South Koreans are against the North Korean government. However, a "Sunshine Policy" is used by the controlling party, the Uri Party. The Uri Party and President Roh, the South Korean president, have often disagreed with the United States in talks about North Korea. The Grand National Party (GNP), the Uri Party's main opposing party, maintains an anti-North Korea policy today.
   The war affected other nations as well. Turkey's participation in the war helped it become a NATO member.
According to a September 7, 2007 NPR report, President Bush stated that it's his administration's position that a formal peace treaty with North Korea was possible only when the north abandoned its nuclear weapons programs. According to Bush, "We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will end — will happen when Kim verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons." Some have characterized this as a reversal of Mr. Bush's stated policy of regime change with respect to North Korea.
   At the second Inter-Korean Summit in October 2007, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il signed a joint declaration calling for international talks towards a peace treaty formally ending the war.

Depictions

Art

Artist Pablo Picasso’s painting Massacre in Korea (1951) depicted violence against civilians during the Korean War. By some accounts, killing of civilians by U.S. forces in Shinchun, Hwanghae Province was the motive of the painting.

Ha Jin's War Trash contains a vivid description of the beginning of the war from the point of view of a Chinese soldier and of the fear of retribution Chinese POWs felt from other Chinese prisoners if they were suspected of being unsympathetic to communism or to the war.

Film

Unlike World War II, there are relatively few Western movies depicting the Korean War.

Pork Chop Hill (1959) is a Lewis Milestone-directed film with Gregory Peck as an infantry lieutenant fighting the bitterly fierce first Battle of Pork Chop Hill, between the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division, and Chicom (Chinese Communist) forces at war's end in April of 1953. The movie is lampooned by the Firesign Theatre album Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers in the story of Lieutenant Tirebiter.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955) stars William Holden as a USAF pilot assigned to destroy the bridges at Toko Ri, while battling doubts; it's based on an eponymous James Michener novel.

The Hunters (1958) adapted from the novel The Hunters by James Salter stars Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner as two very different United States Air Force fighter pilots in the midst of the Korean War.

The Manchurian Candidate, a 1959 thriller novel, was cinematically adapted to The Manchurian Candidate (1962), directed by John Frankenheimer, and featuring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury. It is about brainwashed POWs of the U.S. Army, and an officer's investigation to learn what happened to him and his platoon in the war.

, by Richard Hooker (pseudonym for H. Richard Hornberger) that later was a successful film and a television series; the TV series had a total of 251 episodes, lasted 11 years, won awards, and its concluding episode was a most-watched program. Yet, the sensibilities they presented were more of the Seventies than of the Fifties; the Korean War setting was an oblique and uncontroversial treatment of the then-current American war against Vietnam.

Inchon (1982) is a movie that portrays the Battle of Inchon, a turning point in the war. Controversially, the film was partially financed by Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Movement. It became a notorious financial and critical failure, losing an estimated $40 million of its $46 million budget, and remains the last mainstream Hollywood film to use the war as its backdrop. The film was directed by Terence Young, and starred an elderly Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur. According to press materials from the film, psychics hired by Moon's church contacted MacArthur in heaven and secured his posthumous approval of the casting. There were several South Korean movies, including:

Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004), directed by Kang Je-gyu, became extremely popular in South Korea and at the 50th Asia Pacific Film Festival, Taegukgi won the "Best Film", while Kang Je-gyu was awarded the "Best Director". Taegukgi saw a limited released in the United States.

Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005) shows the effect of the warring sides on a remote village. The movie is about an American aviator, rescued and healed by the village, which soon becomes the home to surviving North Korean and South Korean soldiers. In time, the soldiers lose their suspicion and hated for their enemies and work together to help save the village after the Americans mistakenly identify it as an enemy camp. North Korea has made many films about the war, mostly by the government supporting forceful, armed reunification of the North and South of Korea. These have been highly propagandized to portray potential war crimes by American or South Korean soldiers while glorifying members of the North Korean military as well as North Korean ideals. Shangganling Battle (Shanggan Ling, Chinese: 上甘岭) is a depiction of the Korean War from the Chinese point of view, made in 1956. The movie is about a group of Chinese soldiers blocked in Shangganling mountain area for several days and survive until they're relieved.

Games

Sabre Ace, Conflict Over Korea: 25 June 1950-27 July 1953 London: Eagle Interactive/Virgin Interactive, 1997. Players use a U.S. F-86 Sabre in the Korean War.

MiG Alley (1999-Empire Interactive, Rowan Software) MiG Alley is a combat flight simulator of Korean War.

Korea: Forgotten Conflict (2003-Plastic Reality) A squad based strategy game. Players take command of a UN unit consisting of several specialists such as a Ranger, Medic, Demolitions Expert, Sniper, or Korean to fight against the Communist forces.

(2004-Big Huge Games) The player fights the Korean War in the Cold War campaign, in which he or she's also given the choice to extend the war after 1953.

The Korean War (1986-Victory Games): An operational board wargame by Joseph Balkoski, covering the first year of the conflict.

"Mercenaries-Playground of Destruction" (2005) The player plays as a mercenary sent into Korea to help the war effort and capture an infamous "deck of 52"- a list of the top 52 criminals of the North Koreans' army

Mentions in popular culture

The star of the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers, Basil Fawlty, the maniacal hotel proprietor played by John Cleese says "I fought in the Korean War, you know, I killed four men" to which his wife says in an aside to a guest "he was in the Catering Corps; he used to poison them". He wears a military tie and often refers to a shrapnel injury to his leg from the war, a "bit of gyp".

Further Information

Get more info on 'Korean War'.

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