Names
{{Infobox transliteration , title = Korean War , skhangul = 6·25 전쟁 or 한국 전쟁 , skhanja = 六二五戰爭 or 韓國戰爭 , skrr = Hanguk Jeonjaeng , skmr = Han'guk Chŏnjaeng , northkorea = , nkhangul = 조국해방전쟁 , nkhanja = 祖國解放戰爭 , nkrr = Joguk haebang Jeonjaeng , nkmr = Choguk haebang chǒnjaeng , northkorea2 = yes , ibox-order = ko4, ko3 In South Korea, the war is usually referred to as the "625 War" ({{Korean, hangul=6·25 전쟁, hanja=六二五戰爭, labels=no), the "625 Upheaval" ({{Korean, hangul=6·25 동란, hanja=六二五動亂, rr=yook-i-o dongnan, labels=no), or simply "625", reflecting the date of its commencement on 25 June. In North Korea, the war is officially referred to as the "Fatherland Liberation War" ({{Transliteration, ko, Choguk haebang chǒnjaeng) or alternatively the ''" Chosǒn'' orean''War"'' ({{Korean, hangul=조선전쟁, mr=Chosǒn chǒnjaeng, context=north, labels=no). In mainland China, the segment of the war after the intervention of theBackground
Imperial Japanese rule (1910–1945)
{{Main, Korea under Japanese ruleKorea divided (1945–1949)
{{Main, Division of Korea At theChinese Civil War (1945–1949)
{{Main, Chinese Civil War, Chinese Communist Revolution With the end of the war with Japan, the Chinese Civil War resumed in earnest between the Communists and Nationalists. While the Communists were struggling for supremacy in Manchuria, they were supported by the North Korean government withCommunist insurgency in South Korea (1948–1950)
By 1948, a large-scale North Korea-backed insurgency had broken out in the southern half of the peninsula. This was exacerbated by the ongoing undeclared border war between the Koreas, which saw division-level engagements and thousands of deaths on both sides. The ROK in this time was almost entirely trained and focused on counterinsurgency, rather than conventional warfare. They were equipped and advised by a force of a few hundred American officers, who were largely successful in helping the ROKA to subdue guerrillas and hold its own against North Korean military (Korean People's Army, KPA) forces along the 38th parallel.Bryan, p. 76. Approximately 8,000 South Korean soldiers and police died in the insurgent war and border clashes. The first socialist uprising occurred without direct North Korean participation, though the guerrillas still professed support for the northern government. Beginning in April 1948 on the isolated island of Jeju, the campaign saw mass arrests and repression by the South Korean government in the fight against the South Korean Labor Party, resulting in a total of 30,000 violent deaths, among them 14,373 civilians (of whom ~2,000 were killed by rebels and ~12,000 by ROK security forces). ThePrelude to war (1950)
By 1949, South Korean and US military actions had reduced the active number of indigenous communist guerrillas in the South from 5,000 to 1,000. However, Kim Il-sung believed that widespread uprisings had weakened the South Korean military and that a North Korean invasion would be welcomed by much of the South Korean population. Kim began seeking Stalin's support for an invasion in March 1949, traveling to Moscow to attempt to persuade him.{{Sfn, Weathersby, 2002, pp=3–4 Stalin initially did not think the time was right for a war in Korea. PLA forces were still embroiled in theComparison of forces
Throughout 1949 and 1950, the Soviets continued arming North Korea. After the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, ethnic Korean units in the PLA were sent to North Korea.{{Sfn, Millett, 2007, p=14 Chinese involvement was extensive from the beginning, building on previous collaboration between the Chinese and Korean communists during the Chinese Civil War. In the fall of 1949, two PLA divisions composed mainly of Korean-Chinese troops (the 164th and 166th) entered North Korea, followed by smaller units throughout the rest of 1949; these troops brought with them not only their experience and training, but their weapons and other equipment, changing little but their uniforms. The reinforcement of the KPA with PLA veterans continued into 1950, with the 156th Division and several other units of the former Fourth Field Army arriving (also with their equipment) in February; the PLA 156th Division was reorganized as the KPA 7th Division. By mid-1950, between 50,000 and 70,000 former PLA troops had entered North Korea, forming a significant part of the KPA's strength on the eve of the war's beginning. Several generals, such asCourse of the war
At dawn on Sunday, 25 June 1950, the KPA crossed the 38th Parallel behind artillery fire.{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, p=14 The KPA justified its assault with the claim that ROK troops attacked first and that the KPA were aiming to arrest and execute the "bandit traitor Syngman Rhee".{{Sfn, Appleman, 1998, p=21Factors in US intervention
The Truman administration was unprepared for the invasion. Korea was not included in the strategic Asian Defense Perimeter outlined byUnited Nations Security Council Resolutions
{{Further, List of United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning North Korea On 25 June 1950, theUnited States' response (July–August 1950)
As soon as word of the attack was received, Acheson informed President Truman that the North Koreans had invaded South Korea.{{Sfn, Goulden, 1983, p=48 Truman and Acheson discussed a US invasion response and agreed that the US was obligated to act, comparing the North Korean invasion withThe drive south and Pusan (July–September 1950)
TheBattle of Incheon (September 1950)
{{Main, Battle of Incheon Against the rested and re-armed Pusan Perimeter defenders and their reinforcements, the KPA were undermanned and poorly supplied; unlike the UN forces, they lacked naval and air support.{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, pp=58, 61 To relieve the Pusan Perimeter, General MacArthur recommended anBreakout from the Pusan Perimeter
{{Main, Pusan Perimeter offensive, UN September 1950 counteroffensive, Second Battle of Seoul On 16 September Eighth Army began its breakout from the Pusan Perimeter. ''Task Force Lynch'', 3rd Battalion,UN forces invade North Korea (September–October 1950)
{{Main, UN offensive into North Korea On 27 September, MacArthur received the top secret National Security Council Memorandum 81/1 from Truman reminding him that operations north of the 38th Parallel were authorized only if "at the time of such operation there was no entry into North Korea by major Soviet or Chinese Communist forces, no announcements of intended entry, nor a threat to counter our operations militarily". On 29 September MacArthur restored the government of the Republic of Korea under Syngman Rhee.{{Sfn, Barnouin, Yu, 2006, p=143 On 30 September, US Defense SecretaryChina intervenes (October–December 1950)
{{stack, On 30 June 1950, five days after the outbreak of the war,Fighting around the 38th Parallel (January–June 1951)
A ceasefire presented by the UN to the PRC shortly after theStalemate (July 1951 – July 1953)
For the remainder of the war, the UN and the PVA/KPA fought but exchanged little territory, as the stalemate held. Large-scale bombing of North Korea continued, and protracted armistice negotiations began on 10 July 1951 at Kaesong, an ancient capital of Korea located in PVA/KPA held territory.{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, pp=145, 175–77 On the Chinese side, Zhou Enlai directed peace talks, andArmistice (July 1953 – November 1954)
{{Main, Korean Armistice Agreement The on-again, off-again armistice negotiations continued for two years,{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, pp=144–53 first at Kaesong, on the border between North and South Korea, and then at the neighboring village ofDivision of Korea (1954–present)
{{See also, Korean Demilitarized Zone The Korean Armistice Agreement provided for monitoring by an international commission. Since 1953, theCharacteristics
Casualties
Approximately 3 million people died in the Korean War, the majority of whom were civilians, making it perhaps the deadliest conflict of the Cold War-era.{{Cite book , last=Cumings , first=Bruce , title=The Korean War: A History , publisher=Military
{{See also, Australia in the Korean War, l1=Australia, Belgian United Nations Command, l2=Belgium and Luxembourg, 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade, l3=Canada, Colombian Battalion, l4=Colombia, Kagnew Battalion, l5=Ethiopia, French Battalion, l6=France, Greek Expeditionary Force (Korea), l7=Greece, Regiment van Heutsz#Korean War, l8=Netherlands, New Zealand in the Korean War, l9=New Zealand, Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea, l10=Philippines, Thailand in the Korean War, l11=Thailand, Turkish Brigade, l12=Turkey, 2 Squadron SAAF#Korean War, l13=South Africa, British Commonwealth Forces Korea, l14=United Kingdom, United States in the Korean War, l15=United States {{See also, People's Volunteer Army, l1=China, North Korea in the Korean War, l2=North Korea, Soviet Union in the Korean War, l3=Soviet Union According to the data from the US Department of Defense, the US suffered 33,686 battle deaths, along with 2,830 non-battle deaths, and 17,730 other deaths during the Korean War.{{Cite news , last=Rhem, Kathleen T. , date=8 June 2000 , title=Defense.gov News Article: Korean War Death Stats Highlight Modern DoD Safety Record , publisher=defense.gov. US Department of Defense , url=http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45275 , access-date=3 March 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114121831/http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45275 , archive-date=14 January 2012 American combat casualties were over 90 percent of non-Korean UN losses. U.S. battle deaths were 8,516 up to their first engagement with the Chinese on 1 November 1950. The first four months of the Korean War, that is, the war prior to the Chinese intervention (which started near the end of October), were by far the bloodiest per day for the US forces as they engaged and destroyed the comparatively well-equipped KPA in intense fighting. American medical records show that from July to October 1950, the US Army sustained 31 percent of the combat deaths it ultimately incurred in the whole 37-month war. The U.S. spent US$30 billion in total on the war. Some 1,789,000 American soldiers served in the Korean War, accounting for 31 percent of the 5,720,000 Americans who served on active-duty worldwide from June 1950 to July 1953. South Korea reported some 137,899 military deaths and 24,495 missing. Deaths from the other non-American U.N. militaries totaled 3,730, with another 379 missing. Data from official Chinese sources reported that the PVA had suffered 114,000 battle deaths, 34,000 non-battle deaths, 340,000 wounded, and 7,600 missing during the war. 7,110 Chinese POWs were repatriated to China. In 2010, the Chinese government revised their official tally of war losses to 183,108 dead (114,084 in combat, 70,000 outside of combat) and 25,621 missing. Overall, 73 percent of Chinese infantry troops served in Korea (25 of 34 armies, or 79 of 109 infantry divisions, were rotated in). More than 52 percent of the Chinese air force, 55 percent of the tank units, 67 percent of the artillery divisions, and 100 percent of the railroad engineering divisions were sent to Korea as well. Chinese soldiers who served in Korea faced a greater chance of being killed than those who served in World War II or the Chinese Civil War. In terms of financial cost, China spent over 10 billion yuan on the war (roughly US$3.3 billion), not counting USSR aid which had been donated or forgiven.Xiaobing 2009, p. 112. This included $1.3 billion in money owed to the Soviet Union by the end of it. This was a relatively large cost, as China had only 1/25 the national income of the United States. Spending on the Korean War constituted 34–43 percent of China's annual government budget from 1950 to 1953, depending on the year. Despite its underdeveloped economy, Chinese military spending was the world's fourth-largest globally for most of the war after that of the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom, though by 1953, with the winding down of the Korean War (which ended halfway through the year) and the escalation of theCivilian
According to the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, there were over three-quarters of a million confirmed violent civilians deaths during the war, another million civilians were pronounced missing, and millions more ended up as refugees. In South Korea, some 373,500 civilians were killed, more than 225,600 wounded, and over 387,740 were listed as missing. During the first communist occupation of Seoul alone, the KPA massacred 128,936 civilians and deported another 84,523 to North Korea. On the other side of the border, some 1,594,000 North Koreans were reported as casualties including 406,000 civilians reported as killed, and 680,000 missing. Over 1.5 million North Koreans fled to the South during the war.US unpreparedness for war
In a postwar analysis of the unpreparedness of US Army forces deployed to Korea during the summer and fall of 1950, Army Major GeneralArmored warfare
The initial assault by KPA forces was aided by the use of Soviet T-34-85 tanks.{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, pp=14, 43 A KPA Tank corps (Soviet Union), tank corps equipped with about 120 T-34s spearheaded the invasion. These drove against the ROK with few anti-tank weapons adequate to deal with the T-34s.{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, p=39 Additional Soviet armor was added as the offensive progressed.{{Sfn, Perrett, 1987, pp=134–35 The KPA tanks had a good deal of early successes against ROK infantry, Task Force Smith and the US M24 Chaffee light tanks that they encountered.{{Sfn, Stein, 1994, p=18 Interdiction by ground attack aircraft was the only means of slowing the advancing KPA armor. The tide turned in favor of the UN forces in August 1950 when the KPA suffered major tank losses during a series of battles in which the UN forces brought heavier equipment to bear, including M4 Sherman, M4A3 Sherman and M26 medium tanks, as well as the British Centurion tank, Centurion, Churchill tank, Churchill and Cromwell tank, Cromwell tanks.{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, pp=182–84 The Incheon landings on 15 September cut off the KPA supply lines, causing their armored forces and infantry to run out of fuel, ammunition, and other supplies. As a result of this and the Pusan perimeter breakout, the KPA had to retreat, and many of the T-34s and heavy weapons had to be abandoned. By the time the KPA withdrew from the South, a total of 239 T-34s and 74 SU-76 self-propelled guns were lost.{{Sfn, Perrett, 1987, p=135 After November 1950, KPA armor was rarely encountered. Following the initial assault by the north, the Korean War saw limited use of tanks and featured no large-scale tank battles. The mountainous, forested terrain, especially in the eastern central zone, was poor tank country, limiting their mobility. Through the last two years of the war in Korea, UN tanks served largely as infantry support and mobile artillery pieces.{{Sfn, Ravino, Carty, 2003, p=130Naval warfare
{{Further, List of US Navy ships sunk or damaged in action during the Korean conflict {{Naval engagements of the Korean War Because neither Korea had a significant navy, the war featured few naval battles. A skirmish between North Korea and the UN Command occurred on 2 July 1950; the US Navy cruiser {{USS, Juneau, CL-119, 6, the Royal Navy cruiser {{HMS, Jamaica, 44, 6 and the Royal Navy frigate {{HMS, Black Swan, L57, 6 fought four North Korean torpedo boats and two mortar gunboats, and sank them. USS ''Juneau'' later sank several ammunition ships that had been present. The last sea battle of the Korean War occurred days before the Battle of Incheon; the ROK ship ''PC-703'' sank a North Korean minelayer in the Battle of Haeju Island, near Incheon. Three other supply ships were sunk by ''PC-703'' two days later in theAerial warfare
{{Further, MiG Alley, USAF Units and Aircraft of the Korean War, Korean People's Air Force The war was the first in which jet aircraft played the central role in air combat. Once-formidable fighters such as the P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, and Hawker Sea Fury{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, p=174—all Reciprocating engine, piston-engined, propeller-driven, and designed during World War II—relinquished their air-superiority roles to a new generation of faster, turbojet, jet-powered fighters arriving in the theater. For the initial months of the war, the P-80 Shooting Star, F9F Panther, Gloster Meteor#Service during the Korean War, Gloster Meteor and other jets under the UN flag dominated the Korean People's Air Force (KPAF) propeller-driven Soviet Yakovlev Yak-9 and Lavochkin La-9s.{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, p=182{{Sfn, Werrell, 2005, p=71 By early August 1950, the KPAF was reduced to only about 20 planes.{{Cite web , last=Correll , first=John T. , date=1 April 2020 , title=The Difference in Korea , url=https://www.airforcemag.com/article/the-difference-in-korea/ , access-date=14 June 2020 , website=Air Force Magazine The Chinese intervention in late October 1950 bolstered the KPAF with the MiG-15, one of the world's most advanced jet fighters.{{Sfn, Stokesbury, 1990, p=182 The heavily armed MiGs were faster than first-generation UN jets and therefore could reach and destroy US B-29 Superfortress bomber flights despite their fighter escorts. With increasing B-29 losses, the USAF was forced to switch from a daylight bombing campaign to the safer but less accurate nighttime bombing of targets.{{Citation needed, date=June 2022 The USAF countered the MiG-15 by sending over three squadrons of its most capable fighter, theBombing of North Korea
{{Main, Bombing of North Korea The initial bombing attack on North Korea was approved on the fourth day of the war, 29 June 1950, by General Douglas MacArthur immediately upon request by the commanding general of the Far East Air Forces (FEAF), George E. Stratemeyer.{{Cite journal , last=Kim , first=Taewoo , date=2012 , title=Limited War, Unlimited Targets: U.S. Air Force Bombing of North Korea during the Korean War, 1950–1953 , journal=Critical Asian Studies , volume=44 , issue=3 , pages=467–492 , doi=10.1080/14672715.2012.711980 , s2cid=142704845. Major bombing began in late July. U.S. airpower conducted 7,000 close support and interdiction airstrikes that month, which helped slow the North Korean rate of advance to {{Convert, 2, mi, km, 0, order=flip, abbr=on a day. On 12 August 1950, the USAF dropped 625 tons of bombs on North Korea; two weeks later, the daily tonnage increased to some 800 tons. From June through October, official US policy was to pursue precision bombing aimed at communication centers (railroad stations, marshaling yards, main yards, and railways) and industrial facilities deemed vital to war-making capacity. The policy was the result of debates after World War II, in which US policy rejected the Carpet bombing, mass civilian bombings that had been conducted in the later stages of World War II as unproductive and immoral. In early July, General Emmett O'Donnell Jr. requested permission to Firebombing, firebomb five North Korean cities. He proposed that MacArthur announce that the UN would employ the Air raids on Japan#Firebombing attacks, firebombing methods that "brought Japan to its knees". The announcement would warn the leaders of North Korea "to get women and children and other noncombatants the hell out". According to O'Donnell, MacArthur responded, "No, Rosie, I'm not prepared to go that far yet. My instructions are very explicit; however, I want you to know that I have no compunction whatever to your bombing bona fide military objectives, with high explosives, in those five industrial centers. If you miss your target and kill people or destroy other parts of the city, I accept that as a part of war." In September 1950, MacArthur said in his public report to the UN, "The problem of avoiding the killing of innocent civilians and damages to the civilian economy is continually present and given my personal attention." In October 1950, FEAF commander General Stratemeyer requested permission to attack the city of Sinuiju, a provincial capital with an estimated population of 60,000, "over the widest area of the city, without warning, by burning and high explosive". MacArthur's headquarters responded the following day: "The general policy enunciated from Washington negates such an attack unless the military situation clearly requires it. Under present circumstances this is not the case." Following the intervention of the Chinese in November, General MacArthur ordered increased bombing on North Korea which included firebombing against the country's arsenals and communications centers and especially against the "Korean end" of all the bridges across the Yalu River. As with the Strategic bombing during World War II, aerial bombing campaigns over Germany and Japan in World War II, the nominal objective of the USAF was to destroy North Korea's war infrastructure and demoralization (warfare), shatter the country's morale. On 3 November 1950, General Stratemeyer forwarded to MacArthur the request of Fifth Air Force commander General Earle E. Partridge for clearance to "burn Sinuiju". As he had done previously in July and October, MacArthur denied the request, explaining that he planned to use the town's facilities after seizing it. However, at the same meeting, MacArthur agreed for the first time to a firebombing campaign, agreeing to Stratemeyer's request to burn the city of Kanggye and several other towns: "Burn it if you so desire. Not only that, Strat, but burn and destroy as a lesson to any other of those towns that you consider of military value to the enemy." The same evening, MacArthur's chief of staff told Stratemeyer that the firebombing of Sinuiju had also been approved. In his diary, Stratemeyer summarized the instructions as follows: "Every installation, facility, and village in North Korea now becomes a military and tactical target." Stratemeyer sent orders to the Fifth Air Force and Bomber Command to "destroy every means of communications and every installation, factory, city, and village". On 5 November 1950, General Stratemeyer gave the following order to the commanding general of the Fifth Air Force: "Aircraft under Fifth Air Force control will destroy all other targets including all buildings capable of affording shelter." The same day, twenty-two B-29s attacked Kanggye, destroying 75% of the city. After MacArthur was removed as UN Supreme Commander in Korea in April 1951, his successors continued this policy and ultimately extended it to all of North Korea. The U.S. dropped a total of 635,000 tons of bombs, including 32,557 tons of napalm, on Korea, more than during the whole Pacific campaign of World War II.{{Cite journal , last=Armstrong , first=Charles , date=20 December 2010 , title=The Destruction and Reconstruction of North Korea, 1950–1960 , url=http://www.japanfocus.org/-charles_k_-armstrong/3460/article.html , journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal , volume=8 , issue=51 North Korea ranks alongside Cambodia (500,000 tons), Laos (2 million tons) and South Vietnam (4 million tons) as among the most heavily bombed countries in history, with Laos suffering the most extensive bombardment relative to its size and population. Almost every substantial building in North Korea was destroyed as a result.{{Sfn, Cumings, 2005, pp=297–98{{Sfn, Jager, 2013, pp=237–42 The war's highest-ranking US POW, Major General William F. Dean, reported that the majority of North Korean cities and villages he saw were either rubble or snow-covered wasteland. North Korean factories, schools, hospitals, and government offices were forced to move underground, and air defenses were "non-existent". In November 1950, the North Korean leadership instructed their population to build dugouts and mud huts and to dig tunnels, in order to solve the acute housing problem. General of the Air Force (United States), US Air Force General Curtis LeMay commented: "We went over there and fought the war and eventually burned down every town in North Korea anyway, some way or another, and some in South Korea, too." US ColonelUS threat of atomic warfare
On 5 November 1950, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff issued orders for the retaliatory atomic bombing of Manchurian PRC military bases, if either their armies crossed into Korea or if PRC or KPA bombers attacked Korea from there. President Truman ordered the transfer of nine Mark 4 nuclear bombs "to the Air Force's 9th Bombardment Wing, Heavy, Ninth Bomb Group, the designated carrier of the weapons ... [and] signed an order to use them against Chinese and Korean targets", which he never transmitted.{{Sfn, Cumings, 2005, pp=289–92 Many US officials viewed the deployment of nuclear-capable (but not nuclear-armed) B-29 bombers to Britain as helping to resolve the Berlin Blockade of 1948–1949. Truman and Eisenhower both had military experience and viewed nuclear weapons as potentially usable components of their military. During Truman's first meeting to discuss the war on 25 June 1950, he ordered plans be prepared for attacking Soviet forces if they entered the war. By July, Truman approved another B-29 deployment to Britain, this time with bombs (but without their Pit (nuclear weapon), cores), to remind the Soviets of US offensive ability. Deployment of a similar fleet to Guam was leaked to ''The New York Times''. As UN forces retreated to Pusan, and the CIA reported that mainland China was building up forces for a possible invasion of Taiwan, the Pentagon believed that Congress and the public would demand using nuclear weapons if the situation in Korea required them.{{Cite journal , last=Dingman , first=R. , date=1988–1989 , title=Atomic Diplomacy during the Korean War , journal=International Security , volume=13 , issue=3 , pages=50–91 , doi=10.2307/2538736 , jstor=2538736 , s2cid=154823668 As PVA forces pushed back the UN forces from the Yalu River, Truman stated during a 30 November 1950 press conference that using nuclear weapons was "always [under] active consideration", with control under the local military commander.{{R, jstor2538736 The Indian ambassador, Kavalam Madhava Panikkar, K. Madhava Panikkar, reports "that Truman announced he was thinking of using the atom bomb in Korea. But the Chinese seemed unmoved by this threat ... The PRC's propaganda against the US was stepped up. The 'Aid Korea to resist America' campaign was made the slogan for increased production, greater national integration, and more rigid control over anti-national activities. One could not help feeling that Truman's threat came in useful to the leaders of the Revolution, to enable them to keep up the tempo of their activities." After his statement caused concern in Europe, Truman met on 4 December 1950 with UK prime minister and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spokesmanWar crimes
Civilian deaths and massacres
{{Further, Bodo League massacre, Seoul National University Hospital massacre, No Gun Ri Massacre, Sinchon Massacre, Ganghwa massacre, Sancheong-Hamyang massacre, Geochang massacre There were numerous atrocities and massacres of civilians throughout the Korean War committed by both sides, starting in the war's first days. On 28 June 1950, North Korean troops committed the Seoul National University Hospital massacre.{{Cite web , date=4 June 2010 , title=서울대병원, 6.25전쟁 참전 용사들을 위한 추모제 가져 , url=http://www.snuh.org/pub/snuh/sub02/sub01/1179268_3957.jsp , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120040603/http://www.snuh.org/pub/snuh/sub02/sub01/1179268_3957.jsp , archive-date=20 January 2013 , access-date=19 July 2012 , publisher=Seoul National University Hospital , df=dmy-all On the same day, South Korean President Syngman Rhee ordered the Bodo League massacre, beginning mass killings of suspected leftist sympathizers and their families by South Korean officials and right-wing groups.{{Cite news , date=18 August 2008 , title=Unearthing proof of Korea killings , work=BBC , url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7567936.stm , url-status=live , access-date=5 April 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901133448/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7567936.stm , archive-date=1 September 2013{{Cite news , date=11 February 2009 , title=U.S. Allowed Korean Massacre in 1950 , work=CBS News , agency=Associated Press , url=http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-4234885.html , url-status=live , access-date=5 April 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512171017/http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-4234885.html , archive-date=12 May 2013 Estimates of those killed during the Bodo League massacre range from at least 60,000–110,000 (Kim Dong-choon) to 200,000 (Park Myung-lim).{{Cite news , date=10 July 2010 , title=Korea bloodbath probe ends; US escapes much blame , work=The San Diego Union Tribune , url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-korea-bloodbath-probe-ends-us-escapes-much-blame-2010jul10-story.html , access-date=11 June 2019 , quote=Last November, after investigating petitions from surviving relatives, the commission announced it had verified and identified 4,934 execution victims. But historian Kim Dong-choon, the former commissioner who led that investigation, estimates at least 60,000 to 110,000 died, and similar numbers were summarily executed when northern troops were driven from South Korea later in 1950 and alleged southern collaborators were rounded up. 'I am estimating conservatively,' he said. Korean War historian Park Myung-lim, methodically reviewing prison records, said he believes perhaps 200,000 were slaughtered in mid-1950 alone. The British protested to their allies about later South Korean mass executions, and saved some citizens. In 2005–2010, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Korea), South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigated atrocities and other human rights violations through much of the 20th century, from the Japanese colonial period through the Korean War and beyond. It excavated some mass graves from the Bodo League massacres and confirmed the general outlines of those political executions. Of the Korean War-era massacres the commission was petitioned to investigate, 82% were perpetrated by South Korean forces, with 18% perpetrated by North Korean forces. The commission also received petitions alleging more than 200 large-scale killings of South Korean civilians by the U.S. military during the war, mostly air attacks. It confirmed several such cases, including refugees crowded into a cave attacked with napalm bombs, which survivors said killed 360 people, and an air attack that killed 197 refugees gathered in a field in the far south. It recommended South Korea seek reparations from the United States, but in 2010 a reorganized commission under a new, conservative government concluded that most U.S. mass killings resulted from "military necessity", while in a small number of cases, they concluded, the U.S. military had acted with "low levels of unlawfulness" but the commission recommended against seeking reparations. In the most notorious U.S. massacre, investigated separately, not by the commission, American troops killed an estimated 250–300 refugees, mostly women and children, at No Gun Ri massacre, No Gun Ri in central South Korea (26–29 July 1950). U.S. commanders, fearing enemy infiltrators among refugee columns, had adopted a policy of stopping civilian groups approaching U.S. lines, including by gunfire. After years of rejecting survivors' accounts, the U.S. Army investigated and in 2001 acknowledged the No Gun Ri killings, but claimed they were not ordered and "not a deliberate killing".{{Rp, x South Korean officials, after a parallel investigation, said they believed there were orders to shoot. The survivors' representatives denounced what they described as a U.S. "whitewash". The US bombing of North Korea has been condemned as a war crime by some authors, because it often included bombing civilian targets and caused many civilians casualties. According to Bruce Cumings, "What hardly any Americans know or remember is that we Carpet bombing, carpet-bombed the north for three years with next to no concern for civilian casualties.” Author Blaine Harden has called the bombing campaign a "major war crime“ and described it as "long, leisurely and merciless”. He says it's "perhaps the most forgotten part of a forgotten war".Prisoners of War (POWs)
{{See also, Korean War POWs detained in North Korea, Hill 303 massacre, List of American and British defectors in the Korean WarChinese POWs
At Geoje prison camp on Geoje Island, Chinese POWs experienced anti-communist lecturing and missionary work from secret agents from the US and Taiwan in No. 71, 72 and 86 camps. Pro-Communist POWs experienced torture, cutting off of limbs, or were executed in public.Decrypt the truth that ten thousands pow went to Taiwan=UN Command POWs
= The United States reported that North Korea mistreated prisoners of war: soldiers were beaten, starved, put to unfree labour, forced labor, death march, marched to death, and summary execution, summarily executed. The KPA killed POWs at the battles for Hill 312, Hill 303, the Pusan Perimeter, Daejeon and UN offensive into North Korea#KPA massacre at Sunchon, Sunchon; these massacres were discovered afterwards by the UN forces. Later, a US Congress war crimes investigation, the United States Senate Subcommittee on Korean War Atrocities of the Permanent Subcommittee of the Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, reported that "two-thirds of all American prisoners of war in Korea died as a result of war crimes". Although the Chinese rarely executed prisoners like their North Korean counterparts, mass starvation and diseases swept through the Chinese-run POW camps during the winter of 1950–51. About 43 percent of US POWs died during this period. The Chinese defended their actions by stating that all Chinese soldiers during this period were suffering mass starvation and diseases due to logistical difficulties. The UN POWs said that most of the Chinese camps were located near the easily supplied Sino-Korean border and that the Chinese withheld food to force the prisoners to accept the communism indoctrination programs. According to Chinese reports, over a thousand US POWs died by the end of June 1951, while a dozen British POWs died, and all Turkish POW survived. According to Hastings, wounded US POWs died for lack of medical attention and were fed a diet of corn and millet "devoid of vegetables, almost barren of proteins, minerals, or vitamins" with only 1/3 the calories of their usual diet. Especially in early 1951, thousands of prisoners lost the will to live and "declined to eat the mess of sorghum and rice they were provided". The unpreparedness of US POWs to resist heavy communist indoctrination during the Korean War led to the Code of the United States Fighting Force which governs how US military personnel in combat should act when they must "evade capture, resist while a prisoner or escape from the enemy". North Korea may have detained up to 50,000 South Korean POWs after the ceasefire.{{Cite journal , last=Heo , first=Man-ho , date=2002 , title=North Korea's Continued Detention of South Korean POWs since the Korean and Vietnam Wars , url=http://www.kida.re.kr/data/2006/04/14/08-heo.pdf , url-status=dead , journal=The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis , volume=14 , issue=2 , pages=141–165 , doi=10.1080/10163270209464030 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108084151/http://www.kida.re.kr/data/2006/04/14/08-heo.pdf , archive-date=8 January 2016{{Rp, 141 Over 88,000 South Korean soldiers were missing and the KPA claimed they captured 70,000 South Koreans.{{Rp, 142 However, when ceasefire negotiations began in 1951, the KPA reported they held only 8,000 South Koreans. The UN Command protested the discrepancies and alleged that the KPA were forcing South Korean POWs to join the KPA.{{Sfn, Hermes, 1992, p=136 The KPA denied such allegations. They claimed their POW rosters were small because many POWs were killed in UN air raids and that they had released ROK soldiers at the front. They insisted only volunteers were allowed to serve in the KPA.{{Sfn, Hermes, 1992, p=143{{Rp, 143 By early 1952, UN negotiators gave up trying to get back the missing South Koreans.{{Sfn, Hermes, 1992, p=149 The POW exchange proceeded without access to South Korean POWs who were not on the PVA/KPA rosters.{{Sfn, Hermes, 1992, p=514 North Korea continued to claim that any South Korean POW who stayed in the North did so voluntarily. However, since 1994, South Korean POWs have been escaping North Korea on their own after decades of captivity. {{As of, 2010, the South Korean Ministry of Unification reported that 79 ROK POWs escaped the North. The South Korean government estimates 500 Korean POWs detained in North Korea, South Korean POWs continue to be detained in North Korea. The escaped POWs have testified about their treatment and written memoirs about their lives in North Korea.{{Cite book , last=Yoo , first=Young-Bok , url=http://tearsofbloodbook.blogspot.com/ , title=Tears of Blood: A Korean POW's Fight for Freedom, Family and Justice , publisher=Korean War POW Affairs-USA , date=2012 , isbn=978-1479383856 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517152742/http://tearsofbloodbook.blogspot.com/ , archive-date=17 May 2013 , url-status=live They report they were not told about the POW exchange procedures, and were assigned to work in mines in the remote northeastern regions near the Chinese and Russian border.{{Rp, 31 Declassified Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union), Soviet Foreign Ministry documents corroborate such testimony. In 1997, the Geoje POW Camp in South Korea was turned into a memorial.Starvation
{{See also, National Defense Corps Incident In December 1950, the South Korean National Defense Corps was founded; the soldiers were 406,000 drafted citizens. In the winter of 1951, 50,000 to 90,000 South Korean National Defense Corps soldiers starved to death while marching southward under the PVA offensive when their commanding officers embezzled funds earmarked for their food. This event is called the National Defense Corps Incident. Although his political allies certainly profited from corruption, it remains controversial if Syngman Rhee was personally involved in or benefited from the corruption.{{Cite book , last=Terence Roehrig , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zfQggLWwyi4C&pg=PA139 , title=Prosecution of Former Military Leaders in Newly Democratic Nations: The Cases of Argentina, Greece, and South Korea , publisher=McFarland & Company , date=2001 , isbn=978-0786410910 , page=139 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921221320/https://books.google.com/books?id=zfQggLWwyi4C&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139 , archive-date=21 September 2015 , url-status=liveRecreation
{{Further, United Service Organizations In 1950, Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall and Secretary of the Navy Francis P. Matthews called on the United Service Organizations (USO) which was disbanded by 1947 to provide support for US servicemen. By the end of the war, more than 113,000 USO volunteers from the US were working at the home front and abroad. Many stars came to Korea to give their performances.{{Cite book , last=Paul M. Edwards , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xA34hGXAjlIC&q=korean%20war%20USO&pg=PA123 , title=Prosecution of Former Military Leaders in Newly Democratic Nations: The Cases of Argentina, Greece, and South Korea , publisher=Greenwood , date=2006 , isbn=978-0313332487 , pages=123–24 Throughout the Korean War, Prostitutes in South Korea for the U.S. military, comfort stations (brothels) were operated by South Korean officials for UN soldiers despite prostitution being ostensibly illegal.{{Cite book , last=Höhn , first=Maria , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvwcGFI0C9sC&q=Yanggongju%20prostitute&pg=PA46 , title=Over There: Living with the U.S. Military Empire from World War Two to the Present , publisher=Duke University Press , date=2010 , isbn=978-0822348276 , pages=51–52Aftermath
{{Main, Aftermath of the Korean War Postwar recovery was different in the two Koreas. South Korea, which started from a far lower industrial base than North Korea (the latter contained 80% of Korea's heavy industry in 1945), stagnated in the first postwar decade. In 1953, South Korea and the United States signed a Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea, Mutual Defense Treaty. In 1960, the April Revolution occurred and students joined an anti-Syngman Rhee demonstration; 142 were killed by police; in consequence Syngman Rhee resigned and left for exile in the United States.See also
{{Div col, colwidth=20em * 1st Commonwealth Division * Australia in the Korean War * Canada in the Korean War * Colombian Battalion * Joint Advisory Commission, Korea * Korean DMZ Conflict (1966–1969) * Korean reunification * Korean War in popular culture * List of books about the Korean War * List of Korean War Medal of Honor recipients * List of Korean War weapons * List of military equipment used in the Korean War * List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll * MASH (film), ''MASH'' – film * M*A*S*H (TV series), ''M*A*S*H'' – TV series * New Zealand in the Korean War * North Korea in the Korean War * Operation Big Switch * Operation Little Switch * Operation Moolah * Partisans in Korean War, Partisan Movement * Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea * Pyongyang Sally * Soviet Union in the Korean War * Transfer of People's Volunteer Army soldiers' remains from South Korea to China * UNCMAC – the UN Command Military Armistice Commission operating from 1953 to the present * UNCURK – the 1951 UN Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea * UNTCOK – the 1950 United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea {{Div col endWar memorials
* Korean War Memorial Wall (Canada), Korean War Memorial Wall,{{Ref, 25, map Brampton, Ontario * Korean War Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C. * Memorial of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Dandong, Liaoning, China * National War Memorial (New Zealand) * Philadelphia Korean War Memorial * United Nations Memorial Cemetery, Busan, Republic of Korea * Victorious War Museum, Pyongyang, North Korea * War Memorial of Korea Yongsan-dong, Seoul, Yongsan-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South KoreaNotes
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Citations
{{Reflist, refs = {{Cite web , date=11 April 2013 , title=Českoslovenští lékaři stáli v korejské válce na straně KLDR. Jejich mise stále vyvolává otazníky , url=http://www.rozhlas.cz/zpravy/historie/_zprava/ceskoslovensti-lekari-stali-v-korejske-valce-na-strane-kldr-jejich-mise-stale-vyvolava-otazniky--1198828 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002041301/http://www.rozhlas.cz/zpravy/historie/_zprava/ceskoslovensti-lekari-stali-v-korejske-valce-na-strane-kldr-jejich-mise-stale-vyvolava-otazniky--1198828 , archive-date=2 October 2016 , access-date=25 July 2016 , publisher=Czech Radio , language=cs {{Cite web , title=Casualties of Korean War , url=http://www.imhc.mil.kr/imhcroot/data/korea_view.jsp?seq=4&page=1 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120040603/http://www.imhc.mil.kr/imhcroot/data/korea_view.jsp?seq=4&page=1 , archive-date=20 January 2013 , access-date=14 February 2007 , publisher=Ministry of National Defense of Republic of Korea , language=ko {{Cite web , last=Hickey , first=Michael , title=The Korean War: An Overview , url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/korea_hickey_04.shtml , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205152624/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/korea_hickey_04.shtml , archive-date=5 February 2009 , access-date=31 December 2011 {{Cite book , last=Li , first=Xiaobing , url=https://archive.org/details/historymodernchi00lixi , title=A History of the Modern Chinese Army , publisher=University Press of Kentucky , date=2007 , isbn=978-0813124384 , location=Lexington, KY , pagBibliography
{{See also, Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union, Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union {{Refbegin, 30em * {{Cite book , last=Cumings, B , title=The Korean War: A history , date=2011 , publisher=Modern Library , location=New York * {{Cite book , last=Kraus , first=Daniel , title=The Korean War , date=2013 , publisher=Booklist * {{Cite book , last=Warner, G. , title=The Korean War , date=1980 , publisher=International Affairs *{{source attribution, {{Cite book , last=Appleman , first=Roy E , url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/korea/20-2-1/toc.htm , title=South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu , publisher=United States Army Center of Military History , date=1998 , isbn=978-0160019180 , pages=3, 15, 381, 545, 771, 719 , access-date=14 July 2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140207235336/http://www.history.army.mil/books/korea/20-2-1/toc.htm , archive-date=7 February 2014 , url-status=dead , orig-year=1961 * {{Cite book , last1=Barnouin , first1=Barbara , title=Zhou Enlai: A Political Life , last2=Yu , first2=Changgeng , publisher=Chinese University Press , date=2006 , isbn=978-9629962807 , location=Hong Kong * {{Cite book , last=Becker , first=Jasper , url=https://archive.org/details/rogueregimekimjo00beck , title=Rogue Regime: Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea , publisher=Oxford University Press , date=2005 , isbn=978-0195170443 , location=New York * {{Cite book , last=Beschloss , first=Michael , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSxyDwAAQBAJ , title=Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times , publisher=Crown , date=2018 , isbn=978-0-307-40960-7 , location=New York * {{Cite book , last=Blair , first=Clay , title=The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950–1953 , publisher=Naval Institute Press , date=2003 , author-link=Clay Blair * {{Cite book , last=Chen , first=Jian , title=China's Road to the Korean War: The Making of the Sino-American Confrontation , publisher=Columbia University Press , date=1994 , isbn=978-0231100250 , location=New York * {{Cite book , last=Clodfelter , first=Micheal , title=A Statistical History of the Korean War: 1950-1953 , publisher=Merriam Press , date=1989 , location=Bennington, Vermont * {{Cite book , last=Cumings , first=Bruce , title=Korea's Place in the Sun : A Modern History , publisher=W. W. Norton & Company , date=2005 , isbn=978-0393327021 , location=New York , author-link=Bruce Cumings * {{Cite book , last=Cumings , first=Bruce , title=Origins of the Korean War , publisher=Princeton University Press , date=1981 , isbn=978-8976966124 , chapter=3, 4 , author-link=Bruce Cumings * {{Cite book , last1=Dear , first1=Ian , url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00dear/page/516 , title=The Oxford Companion to World War II , last2=Foot , first2=M.R.D. , publisher=External links
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