ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : History of the Korean War </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2001 --> </head> <body bgcolor = "lightgreen"> <div align = "center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../banner.jpg" border = "0"> </A></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Conflict over Germany </B></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../region/europe/germconfl2.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </A></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../period/earlycoldwar/xecw.html"> <img src = "../../period/banners/banecw.jpg" border = "0"> </A></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../region/europe/clampdown.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"></A> </TD> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Soviet Clampdown <BR> on Democratic Movements </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR><BR> <script language="JavaScript"> <!-- function SymError() { return true; } window.onerror = SymError; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-0213752126925919"; google_alternate_color = "FFFFE1"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_channel ="4814426207"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_page_url = document.location; google_color_border = "FF3300"; google_color_bg = "FFFFE1"; google_color_link = "0000CC"; google_color_url = "008000"; google_color_text = "6F6F6F"; //--></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <BR><BR><BR> </div> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "900" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "6" face = "arial"><B> The Korean War (1950-1953) </B></font> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <BR><BR> <font size = "4" face = "Times Roman"> In order to minimize US losses in World War II, the US admministration had pressed on the USSR to declare war on Japan, which it did on August 8th 1945, just a few weeks before the war ended. At the POTSDAM CONFERENCE it was agreed that Japanese forces to the north of the 38th parallel would be disarmed by Soviet troops, to the south of it by US troops. So, the Korean peninsula (under Japanese administration since 1905/ 1910) was partitioned. <BR> A Korean administration set up immediately before the arrival of the Soviet and US troops was not recognized by the occupation forces; the Soviet forces strongly supported the establishment of a socialist PEOPLE'S DEMOCRACY in the north, while the U.S. had an ill-formulated policy toward the south. When the USSR unexpectedly and suddenly announced to have withdrawn its troops from Korean soil on January 1st 1948, the US administration, giving up older plans for a longer protectorate, released the REPUBLIC OF KOREA into independence on August 15th 1948. <BR> The US administration still lacked a clearly defined Korea policy, while North Korea's strongman KIM IL SUNG planned for reunification of the peninsula under communist rule (most Koreans wanted unification, but they did not agree on the political system). After mainland China fell to the communists in 1949, US secretary of state DEAN ACHESON announced that South Korea lay outside the island perimeter the US was prepared to defend, a statement which must have been read by Kim Il Sung as an encouragement. <BR> The North Korean communists frequently provoked border clashes, sent agents to the south to provoke uprisings. On June 25th 1950 North Korea launched a full-scale invasion of the south. Southern forces could not hold; within a week, South Korea's capital Seoul had fallen and South Korean forces were retreating. <BR><BR> The UN security council - at a time when its meetings were boycotted by the Soviet delegate - declared North Korea to be an aggressor (neither North nor South Korea were UNO members) and called on its members to come to the aid of the attacked nation. This resolution had been suggested and strongly supported by the US (Truman) administration; 16 nations would answer the call, the bulk of the troops committed being from the US. General DOUGLAS MACARTHUR was given command over UN troops. <BR> South Korean troops together with the first US troops dispatched to the war theatre soon found themselves bottled up in the PUSAN PERIMETER. Then UN troops staged an the INCHON LANDING, opening up a new front and sandwiching the North Korean troops. The North Korean front soon collapsed, South Korean and then UN forces (in violation of the mandate given to them by the UN) crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea and, by winter, reached the Yalu river which forms the Korean border to China. <BR><BR> It became apparent that US president Truman and UN (U.S.) General Douglas MacArthur pursued different policies, Truman intending to limit the conflict to the Korean peninsula, MacArthur trying to use the opportunity for implementing a ROLLBACK IN ASIA. MacArhur attempted to provoke the PRC into entering the war, by having US planes violate the Manchurian border, by having the Chinese side of the Yalu bridge at Dandong-Sinuiju bombed, by signing a mutual defense treaty with Nationalist China (Taiwan). <BR> The Chinese did respond by sending an army of 300,000 'volunteers' to Korea. Fighting in the mountain regions, sticking to the ridges (while UN troops preferred the roads in the valleys) they managed to break through repeatedly, entrapped and defeated UN units. So MacArthur ordered a quick withdrawal in order to set up a new line of defense. His demands for new troops and an escalation of the war into China were refused; then he was dismissed, replaced by Gen. Matthew Ridgway. UN troops altered their strategy, focussing on the mountain ridges, and the fronts stabilized. The war lingered on for two more years, the Chinese side taking extremely heavy losses. In 1953 an ARMISTICE was signed, roughly at the status quo ante. <BR><BR> The USSR had managed to officially stay out of the war; yet the socialist camp supported the communist North Koreans. The North Korean air force was equipped with the newest MIG fighters which, in the early stages of the war, were superior to the US air force. A Red Cross train organized by the Hungarians operated in North Korea, a countermeasure to UN support of South Korea. In the confrontation between the USSR and the USA (the Cold War), Stalin welcomed a war which bound US troops and revenues, but not those of the USSR. <BR> The UN, having openly taken sides in the conflict, had lost impartiality. When the armistice was signed, a NEUTRAL NATIONS SUPERVISORY COMMISSION (NNSC) was established, consisting of Swedes, Swiss, Poles, Czechs (4 each) and an Indian as commission president. <BR><BR> The war had been extremely costly in human lives, in economical and ecological terms. The forests covering Korea's mountains had been burnt down so that enemy movements could be observed. Most of the nation's infrastructure - bridges, railway lines, buildings - had been destroyed. Millions of people were displaced, thousands were invalids, the economy was in shambles. <BR> The Korean peninsula continued to see a high concentration of soldiers - the Chinese 'volunteers' withdrew in 1958, but North Korea had built up a relatively large army (required military service 7 years); US forces, although on a reduced scale, are still stationed in South Korea. the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone), was impassable for civilians; there have been no postal connections between both states since the signing of the armistice. <BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "240" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#00FF00"> <font size = "2" color = "#000000"> <A HREF = "../../region/lowcountries/ndvn.html"><B> The Korean War <BR> Dutch Forces in Korea </B></A></font></TD> <TD width="240" valign="top" align="center" bgcolor="#00FF00"> <font size = "2" color = "#000000"> <A HREF = "../../region/lowcountries/belkorea.html"><B> The Korean War <BR> Belgian Forces in Korea </B></A></font></TD> <TD width = "200" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#00FF00"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> <A HREF = "../../region/scandinavia/jutlandia.html"><B>Korean War <BR> Denmark's Jutlandia</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width = "200" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#00FF00"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> <A HREF = "../../region/scandinavia/normash.html"><B> Korean War <BR> Norway's NORMASH </B></A> </font></TD> <TD width = "200" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#00FF00"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> <A HREF = "../../region/scandinavia/pusan.html"><B> Sweden and the Korean War </B></A></font></TD> </TR></TABLE><BR><BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> EXTERNAL <BR> FILES </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> Korean War Project, from <A HREF = "http://www.koreanwar.org/"><B>koreanwar.org</B></A> <BR> <A HREF = "http://www.skalman.nu/koreanwar/"><B>Korean War Factbook</B></A> <BR> <A HREF = "http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/6808/"><B>The Korean War, a Year by Year Outline</B></A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> DOCUMENTS </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> Korean War Documents, posted by <A HREF = "http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/1953/index.html"><B>Stephen Carroll</B></A> <BR> Report of The United Nations Commission on Korea, 1950, from <A HREF = "http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1950-korea-un1.html"><B> Modern History Sourcebook</B></A><BR> Andrei A. Gromyko : On American Intervention In Korea, 1950, from <A HREF = "http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1950-gromyko-korea.html"><B> Modern History Sourcebook</B></A> <BR> Eyewitness : A North Korean Remembers (1935-1955), from <A HREF = "http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/eyewit.htm"><B>Kim Young Sik</B></A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> REFERENCE </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border="5" cellspace="10" cellpadding="10" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><TR> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="center"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"><i>This page is part of <B>World History at KMLA</b></i></font><BR> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"><i>First posted on July 10th 2001, last revised on November 17th 2004</i></font> <BR><BR> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman"> Click here to go <A HREF = "../../index.html">Home</A> <BR> Click here to go to <A HREF = "../../about.html">Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster</A> <BR> Click here to go to <A HREF = "../../links.html">Statistics</A><BR> </font></TD></TR></TABLE><BR><BR><BR> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif"></a><BR><BR> <BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? 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