Korean War, conflict between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in which at least 2.5 million persons lost their lives. The war reached international proportions in June 1950 when North Korea, supplied and advised by the Soviet Union, invaded the South. On July 27, 1953, both sides agreed to a ceasefire, essentially bringing the Korean War to an end. South Korea remained free from communism, and the original borders of these two countries remained essentially unchanged from before the conflict. Most historians claim that the Korean War was a draw, with no clear victor. In essence, that is true.
Was it another proxy war?
The specter of the Korean War continues to loom large above our heads each day. This was another battle between the “north” and the “south”, this time, in Korea. Isn’t it interesting that those countries who are communist rule occupy the North?
The Korean War has been given other names, “The Unknown War” and even the “Forgotten War.” The result of that war is evident to this day. Today, countries in the west, including the United States of America, are always on pins and needles when North Korea is mentioned. As if the escalating tension in the Middle East was not enough, the other Korea makes it a point that it is not forgotten.
| 1905 | Korea is made a protectorate by Japan under the Eulsa Treaty. |
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| 1910 | Aug 22 – The Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty makes Korea part of Japan. Although representatives from both sides signed the treaty, an exiled provisional government of Korea disputes its legality. * What Imperial Japan did at that time is colonize the Korean people and the Korean Peninsula. The Japanese did their best to force Koreans from practicing their culture; the Korean people were force to assimilate into the Japanese culture. |
| 1938 | As Japan enters the fray of World War II, hundreds of thousands of civilians from Korea were to forced work under the Japanese. |
| 1945 | Jul 17 – The Potsdam Conference takes place; participants included the UK, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Discussed, among other things, was the fate of Korea. The bad thing about the conference, the allies did not consult with the Koreans what they wanted to do. It was at this conference that Korea was divided into two, at the 38th Parallel, North Korea for the communists and South Korea for all others. Aug 10 – Soviet Russian soldiers arrive in North Korea as a show of support for Kim il-Sung, then leader of the North; America has not sent any troops yet as part of the agreement. Sep 2 – The Empire of Japan surrenders officially ending World War II. Sep 8 – The Japanese surrender Korea to the United States, just below the 38th parallel. Sep 8 – U.S. appoints Lt. General John Hodge as military governor of South Korea and head of the USAMGIK (United States Army Military Government in Korea). * More than twenty-five percent of those killed in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were Korean nationals. Japanese rule over Korea was considered null and void after the war. |
| 1947 | Mar 12 – U.S. President Harry Truman gives a pledge that the United States will help any country that is under the threat of communism. It became popularly known as the Truman Doctrine. Aug – American soldiers slowly withdraw from South Korea entrusting the country to pro-American leader Dr. Syngman Rhee. |
| 1948 | Apr 3 – The Jeju Uprising takes place, south of the Korean Peninsula. Koreans sympathetic to the North Korean communist regime led by Kim Il Sung were attacked by South Korean soldiers for fear of the North’s influence on the people. More than 14,000 people were killed. May 10 – South Korea plan to hold its first general elections. Jul 20 – Syngman Rhee is elected president soon after the South Korean government passed its own constitution on July 17. Aug 15 – The Republic of Korea (South Korea) is established. Aug 25 – North Korea holds parliamentary elections. The Soviet Union left North Korea shortly after the elections were completed as agreed in the Potsdam conference. Oct – More unrest from left-leaning South Korean soldiers who did not agree with the way the Jeju Uprising was handled, this sparks the Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion. * The United States continues to stay in South Korea. The delay is caused by the unpreparedness of the South Korean military at that time. Oct 1 – The People’s Republic of China (Communist China) is formed. This is significant because of North Korea’s role in assisting the communists during the Chinese Civil War. Dec 24 – The Mungyeong Massacre casts a pall on the government of Syngman Rhee, South Koreans kill up to 88 people and placed the blame on communist bandits. * Both Kim il-Sung and Syngman Rhee sought the best for their country; they were seen as nationalists instilling their respective ideologies to the people. This did not bode well for the US Congress, although they supported South Korea, they were concerned that Rhee might invade the North. |
| 1950 | Jan – The Korean Aid Bill is defeated in Congress, in the House of Representatives by one vote. This action cut off all aid to South Korea. Feb – Josef Stalin of the Soviet Union supports Kim il-Sung, asks permission to invade south Korea. Stalin agrees, based on the belief that the United States did not have any interest in Korea. Apr – South Korea holds elections. Voters choose anti-Rhee moderates instead of the conservatives currently in office at that time. |
| 1950 | Jun 25 – North Korea launches a full scale attack against South Korea. North Korean infantry and tanks cross the 38th Parallel and meet little resistance. This is the start of the Korean War. Jun 27 – In a joint announcement, the United Nations and the United States condemn the actions of North Korea. Resolution 83 is passed calling all members of the United Nations to lend military aid to the Republic of Korea. Military help is given by the UN and placed under the command of American officers. Jun 27 – Syngman Rhee gives the order for the Bodo League Massacre, or as some have called it, the Summer of Terror. This involved the death of some 100,000 communists and people sympathetic to the North Korean cause. Jun 28 – The South Korean capital of Seoul is captured by North Korean troops. Jun 29 – World War II hero General Douglas MacArthur arrive in Suwon, South Korea to take command of UN and US forces. Jul 4 – The Battle of Osan takes place, where American’s on the ground engage North Korean soldiers. More than 150 American’s suffer from injury and/or death. Jul 21 – Advancing North Korean troops make their way to the south and force American troops one hundred miles south of Seoul into the city of Daejon. Aug 4 – A coalition of South Korean and American forces establish a defensive perimeter in the city of Pusan, this became known as the Battle of Pusan Perimeter. Sep 15 – The Battle of Inchon; General Douglas MacArthur leads an amphibious assault behind enemy lines. Sep 27 – U.S. President harry Truman gives the okay to General MacArthur to go after North Korean troops, even if it means crossing the 38th Parallel. Sep 29 – South Korean president Syngman Rhee reestablishes his government by recapturing Seoul. Oct 15 – During a meeting with President Truman at Wake Island, General MacArthur confidently assures him that the Chinese will not get involved in the Korean conflict. Oct 25 – More than 100,000 Chinese soldiers secretly arrive in North Korea through the Yalu River. They handily defeat the South Korean army at Pukchin. Nov 1 – The Chinese officially enters the Korean War by intervening where KPA’s are overwhelmed by both US and UN forces. |
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| 1951 | Jan 4 – China’s People Volunteer Army (PVA) and the Korean’s People Army (KPA) of North Korea retake Seoul for the second time. Feb 5 – Operation Roundup takes place at Hongch’on and P’yonch’Ang. Feb 20-Mar 6 – One of the major counter offensives led by the United Nations forces is known as Operation Killer, this was aimed against the PVA of China and North Korean Army. Mar 7 – Operation Ripper is put into effect by the UN Military under the command of General Matthew Ridgeway of the US 8th Army. Mar 23 – Operation Tomahawk is underway. Paratroopers are dropped into Munsan-Ni by the 187th Regimental Combat Team; this is considered as the biggest operation, by air, of the Korean War. Apr 11 – General MacArthur is dismissed as Supreme Commander in Korea by President Truman. There were differences between the two American leaders that made the dismissal inevitable. General Matthew Ridgway is appointed as the new Supreme Commander of Korea. April 22-29 – KPA & Chinese initiate an offensive, also known as the “Chinese Spring Offensive,” this was the first. The offensive was fought in two battles, the Battle of Imjin River and the Battle of Kapyong. May 17-22 – The Second Spring offensive by the Chinese, the US Army sends the 2nd, 3rd, and 25th infantry division; while the Marines use the 1st Marine division. Jan-Jun – Fighting continues around the 38th Parallel. The KPA and PVA push back US and South Korean troops behind the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone). Aug 18 – North Korean forces engage in a ground battle against United Nations, Philippine, ROK, and US forces in the Battle of Bloody Ridge. Sep 13 – South Korean, French, American, and Philippine troops fight in a prolonged battle known as the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge against Chinese and North Korean forces. There were a combined 28,000 of casualties and loss of life. |
| 1952 | Mar 21 – Located near Chorwon in South Korean, the Battle of Hill Eerie saw the extensive participation of Filipino soldiers side by side with American troops against a formidable Chinese contingent. Jun 26 – One of a series of engagements between China, in behalf of North Korean, against US, South Korea, and Colombian forces, best known as the Battle of Old Baldy. Oct 6 – Another battle to gain an advantage by the Chinese, the Battle of White Horse, brings to bear American, French, and South Korean forces in this bloody battle. Oct 14 – The Americans tried to achieve control of the “Iron Triangle” in the Battle of Triangle Hill. |
| 1953 | May 28 – Led by a British commander, the Battle of the Hook saw Turkish and British forces battling it out against 6500 Chinese soldiers. Mar-Jul – The Battle of Pork Chop Hill took place, it became one of the controversial battles in the Korean War. Jul 13 – The last battle leading towards an armistice agreement between all warring factions, the Battle of Kumsong occurred during negotiations between North Korean (communist) and the United Nations. This was a battle wherein the strength of the Chinese was evident. Jul 27 – The Korean Armistice Agreement officially ends the Korean War. * Between August of 1953 and early February 1954, there was an ongoing exchange of Prisoners of War; nearly 82,500 North Koreans and Chinese were repatriated; 21,900 communist prisoners of war refused to be repatriated. |
(Originally published in Social Education, the Journal of the National Council for the Social Studies).
Background
While the end of World War II brought peace and prosperity to most Americans, it also created a heightened state of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. Fearing that the Soviet Union intended to 'export' communism to other nations, America centered its foreign policy on the 'containment' of communism, both at home and abroad. Although formulation of the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and the Berlin Airlift suggested that the United States had a particular concern with the spread of communism in Europe, America's policy of containment extended to Asia as well. Indeed, Asia proved to be the site of the first major battle waged in the name of containment: the Korean War.
In 1950 the Korea Peninsula was divided between a Soviet-backed government in the north and an American-backed government in the south. The division of Korea into two halves had come at the end of World War II. In August of 1945 the Soviet Union invaded Korea, which had been under Japan's control since 1910. Fearing that the Soviets intended to seize the entire peninsula from their position in the north, the United States quickly moved its own troops into southern Korea. Japanese troops surrendered to the Russians in the north and to the Americans in the south. In an effort to avoid a long-term decision regarding Korea's future, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea temporarily along the 38th parallel, a latitudinal line that bisected the country. This line became more rigid after 1946, when Kim Il Sung organized a communist government in the north---the Democratic People's Republic. Shortly after, nationalist exile Syngman Rhee returned to Korea and set up a rival government in the south---the Republic of Korea (ROK). Each government hoped to reunify the country under its own rule.
War broke out along the 38th parallel on June 25, 1950. On that day, North Korean troops coordinated an attack at several strategic points along the parallel and headed south toward Seoul. The United Nations Security Council responded to the attack by adopting (by a 9-0 vote) a resolution that condemned the invasion as a 'breach of the peace.' The Council did not have a Soviet delegate, since 6 months prior, the Soviet Union had left to protest the United Nation's refusal to seat a delegate from China. President Harry S. Truman quickly committed American forces to a combined United Nations military effort and named Gen. Douglas MacArthur Commander of the U.N. forces. Fifteen other nations also sent troops under the U.N. command. Truman did not seek a formal declaration of war from Congress; officially, America's presence in Korea amounted to no more than a 'police action.'
However, the entry of the United States into the conflict signaled a reversal of policy toward Korea. Although it backed the government of Syngman Rhee, the United States had begun withdrawing its troops from South Korea in 1948. As late as January of 1950, Secretary of State Dean Acheson had implied that the Korea Peninsula lay outside the all-important 'defense perimeter' of the United States, a statement that some took to mean that the United States would not defend the ROK from communist attack.
Korean War Pictures
So why did the United States become involved in the Korean conflict?
The decision to intervene in Korea grew out of the tense atmosphere that characterized Cold War politics. On the eve of the North Korean invasion, a number of events had made Truman anxious. The Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb in 1949, ending the United States' monopoly on the weapon. In Europe, Soviet intervention in Greece and Turkey had given rise to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, which funneled aid to war-torn Europe in the hopes of warding off communist political victories. In early 1950, President Truman directed the National Security Council (NSC) to conduct an analysis of Soviet and American military capabilities. In its report, known as 'NSC 68,' the Council recommended heavy increases in military funding to help contain the Soviets.
Events in Asia also contributed to an increased sense of insecurity. In 1949 China underwent a revolution that brought Mao Zedong and his Communist party into power. The nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-Shek, had retreated to the island of Formosa (Taiwan) while they continued their war with mainland China. Mao quickly moved to ally himself with the Soviet Union, and signed a treaty with the Soviets in 1950. The Truman administration faced criticism from Republicans who claimed he had 'lost' China. They criticized him for not providing enough aid to the Chinese nationalists. The suggestion by Secretary of State Dean Acheson that the administration recognize the communist government of China only gave them more ammunition for their attacks.
The Truman administration also faced internal criticism regarding its commitment to anticommunism at home. Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had recently begun his infamous hunt for communists within the U. S. Government. Although McCarthy was just warming up, the recent trials of Alger Hiss and others for espionage left the Truman administration apprehensive about its anticommunist credentials. Truman and his advisors found themselves under increased domestic pressure not to appear 'soft' on communism abroad.
Thus, when North Korean troops invaded the South, the Truman administration seized upon the opportunity to defend a noncommunist government from invasion by communist troops. Determined not to 'lose' another country to communism, and interested in shoring up its anticommunist credentials, the Truman administration found itself defending a nation a world away from U.S. soil. Yet Truman's response was not merely a response to internal pressure. The invasion of South Korea made Truman genuinely fearful that the Soviet Union and China intended to expand the sphere of communism throughout Asia.
Truman's statement of June 27 illustrates his concern with communist aggression and expansion. In it, Truman argues that 'communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war.' Truman's statement suggests that he believed the attack by North Korea had been part of a larger plan by communist China and, by extension, the Soviet Union. The President believed that the Korean situation was similar to that of Greece in 1947. He informed his advisors that he believed the invasion was 'very obviously inspired by the Soviet Union.' This gave America a moral imperative to act. 'If we don't put up a fight now,' Truman observed to his staff, there was 'no telling what they'll do.' His concern over the future of anticommunist governments in Asia showed in his public statement. Truman pledged to defend Formosa (Taiwan) from attack and to support French forces in Indochina, a conflict that would eventually escalate into the Vietnam War. Yet Truman had no wish to provoke a full-scale war with the Soviets. By blaming 'communism' in the statement, as opposed to the Soviet Union, Dean Acheson later explained, the administration sought to give the Soviets a 'graceful exit' and not provoke open confrontation with Russia.
Truman's statement also reflected a new military order. Although the United States took the lead in the Korean action, it did so under the rubric of the United Nations. Truman made it clear that his actions fell within the measures recommended by the United Nations, and reminded 'all members of the United Nations' to 'consider carefully the consequences of this latest aggression in Korea' and that America 'will continue to uphold the rule of law.'
This document is part of the George M. Elsey papers, located at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri. Elsey, who had worked under President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, was a top administrative assistant to the President. Truman met with Elsey and other advisors on the morning of the 27th to draft and revise the public statement--his second on the Korean conflict. At 11:30 a.m. the President met with members of the foreign affairs and foreign relations committees of Congress and, shortly after, the statement was released to newspaper reporters. That afternoon, Truman attended another meeting of the United Nations to propose a resolution urging all members of the United Nations to give assistance to South Korea. The meeting had been originally planned for the morning but was postponed to accommodate one of its members. Secretary of State Dean Acheson later reflected that the Soviets liked to point out that since the U.N. meeting occurred after the President's statement, Truman could not truthfully claim that his decision to commit forces was influenced by the wishes of the United Nations. When it did meet later that day, the United Nations passed his resolution, although a handful of dissenting countries abstained.
The Document
Summary Of The Korean War
Statement of
President Harry S. Truman
June 27, 1950
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Outcome Of Korean War
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library
Papers of George M. Elsey