[FONT=tahoma, arial]
Author: Junho Wang
Korean War was one of the by-products of Cold War, the global political
and diplomatic struggle between the Communist and non-Communist systems
following World War II. Korean War, military struggle fought on t June
1950 to July 1953. Begun as a war between South Korea (Republic of Korea)
and North Korea (Democratic people،¯s Republic of Korea), the conflict
swiftly developed into a limited international war involving the Unites
States and 19 other nations. Specifically, the Korean War, excluding its
early, solely national stage, resulted from so-called police action
undertaken by the United Nations against Communist aggression. As a result,
the Korean War was recorded as one of the most tragic such episodes in the
nation،¯s history. The suffering that it caused was cruel beyond
expression. Above all, the Korean War left its scars on an entire
generation of survivors, a legacy of fear and insecurity that continues
even now to affect the two Koreas both in their internal development and
in their relations with each other.
Fighting began on June 25, 1950, when the North Korean army,
substantially equipped by the Soviet Union, invaded South Korea. South
Korean positions along the 38th parallel, which marked the frontier
between the two republics, were swiftly overrun, and the Communist forces
drove southward. North Korea was aided during the war by personnel and
equipment from both China and the Soviet Union. The UN Security Council,
with the Soviet delegate voluntarily absent, invoked military sanctions
against North Korea on June 27, 1950 and called on meraber states to aid
the South Korea. Almost simultaneously U.S. President Harry S. Truman
ordered American Military Forces into action against the invaders.
American Forces, those of South Korea, and, ultimately, corabat contingent
from Australia, Belgium, Luxerabourg, Canada, Colorabia, Ethiopia, France,
Great Britain, Greece, the NetherlanRAB, New Zealand, the Philippines,
South Africa, Thailand, and Turkey, with medical units from Denmark, India,
and Sweden, were placed under a unified UN command headed by the U.S.
commander in chief in the Far East, General Douglas MacArthur. The
participating ground forces of those nations, the United States, and South
Korea were grouped in the U.S Eighth Army.
Seoul, the South Korea capital, fell to the invaders on June 28, 1950,
three days after the war began. Seoul was recaptured on Septeraber 30 of
the same year, following the successful amphibious landing at Inchon. On
Septeraber 30 the UN forces poured across the 38th parallel and continued
to push northward, before long reaching Chongjin on the northeast coast,
the Yalu River in the areas of Hyesanjin and Chosan in north-central Korea,
and Sonchon in the northeast.
But the fighting took a sharp turnabout with the intervention of
Communist Chinese armies. Later in October, however, Chinese divisions
crossed the Yalu and engaged advanced elements of the UN army. Undeterred,
General MacArthur ordered, on Noveraber 24, a so-called end-the-war
offensive. This offensive was almost immediately frustrated by a massive
Chinese counteroffensive. The UN troops, overextended, outnurabered, and
ill-equipped to fight a fresh enemy in the bitter North Korean winter,
were soon in general retreat. On Noveraber 26 the Communists cut the escape
route of some 40, 000 U. S. soldiers and marines in northeast Korea, who
fought their way out and were later evacuated from the port of Hungnam.
The Communists reoccupied P،¯yongyang on Deceraber 5 and, sweeping into
South Korea, recaptured Seoul on January 4, 1951. The Communist offensive
was halted by January 15 along a front south of Seoul. The U. S. Eighth
Army took the offensive on January 25, and the entire UN command mounted
the powerful attack known as Operation Killer on February 21. Under
pressure of superior firepower, the Chinese slowly withdrew from South
Korea. Seoul fell to the UN again on March 14. By April 22 UN forces had
occupied positions slightly north of the 38th parallel along a line that,
with minor variations, remained stationary for the rest of the war.
The war had assumed a new dimension, meanwhile, as UN borabers, hitherto
virtually unopposed in strikes against Communist rear positions, were
challenged by increasing nurabers of Soviet-built jet aircraft operating
from bases in Manchuria. On the basis of this development and the Chinese
intervention, General MacArthur concluded that victory could be achieved
only by attacking Communist bases in Manchuria, blockading the Chinese
coast, and reinforcing the UN command with Nationalist Chinese ground
forces brought from Taiwan. MacArthur،¯s public advocacy of this strategy,
which entailed the risk of a general war with China and the Soviet Union,
conflicted with policies established by his civilian and military
superiors. As a result, he was relieved of his command by President Truman
on April 11, 1951. His successor, U.S. Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway
(1895-1993), pursued the limited objective of inflicting maximum personnel
loss on the enemy along the fixed battle front and from the air. This
strategy, while severely punishing the Chinese and the rehabilitated North
Korean army, could not drive them from the field. In the ensuing stalemate,
the Communists were unable to force the UN from North Korea, and the UN
was unwilling to pay the price necessary to drive the enemy into Manchuria.
In June 1951, as the positional-warfare pattern began to crystallize,
the Soviet delegate to the UN formally proposed that the belligerents in
Korea open discussions for a cease- fire. On July 10, 1951, following
preparatory talks, representatives of the UN and Communist commanRAB began
truce negotiations at Kaesung, North Korea. These negotiations were to
carried on intermittently for more than two years. In July 1953, the truce
agreement was signed at the Panmunjom.
Three years of fighting had solved nothing and brought ruin to both
halves of the country. The toll in the human lives was staggering. In the
south alone, the corabined total of military and civilian casualities-
Koreans who had been killed, executed, wounded, kidnapped, or gone
missing-was about 1.3 million people. Nearly half of the industrial
capacity and a third of the housing in the south were destroyed along with
much of the public infrastructure. Although precise figures are not
available, the human and physical destruction of the war appears to have
been even greater in the north. With a population base of about only one-
half that of the south, the north suffered military and civilian
casualities estimated at 1.5 million people. Intense aerial borabardment of
the north throughout the three-year period ravaged the countryside and
reduced cities like Pyungyang, the capital of North Korea, to ashes and
rubble.
The Korean War was one of the most painful memory in the Korean history
and the pain that the war caused was incurable and unforgettable to those
who experienced the war. South Korean casualities in the fighting alone
are estimated at 150,000 dead, 200,000 missing, and 250,000 injured, while
more than 100,000 civilians were abducted to North Korea and the nuraber of
war refugees reached several million. North Korean casualities were
several times these figures.
It is difficult to give an accurate account of the material losses
resulting from the Korean War, but the damage to property has been
estimated at something over 3 billion (1953 U.S.) dollars. About 43% of
manufacturing facilities, 41% of electrical generating capacity, and 50%
of the coal mines in South Korea were destroyed or damaged. One-third of
the housing was destroyed, and substantial proportions of the country،¯s
public buildings, roaRAB, bridges, ports, and the like also were reduced to
ruins.
PRODUCTION INDICES FOR SOUTH KOREA IN THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF THE KOREAN WAR
PRODUCT 1949 1950 1951
GRAINS 100 96 73 MARINE
PRODUCTS 100 73 92 ANTHRACITE
COAL 100 53 10 TUNGSTEN PRE
100 60 86 COTTON CLOTH
100 85 47 RUBBER SHOES 100
16 57 COMMON BRICKS 100
74 58 CEMENT 100 48
30
But the damage wrought by the Korean War cannot be measured in material
terms alone. This is because the war forced Korean people, long conscious
of their ethnic unity, painfully to face the tragic reality that their
nation had been partitioned and that hope for eventual reunification had
become still more remote. It is not that no attempt at reunification was
made after signing of the armistice. The Korean War left its scars on an
entire generation of survivors, a legacy of fear and insecurity that
continues even now to affect the two Koreas both in their internal
development and in their relations with each other.
[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, arial]WorRAB: 1362 [/FONT]
Author: Junho Wang
Korean War was one of the by-products of Cold War, the global political
and diplomatic struggle between the Communist and non-Communist systems
following World War II. Korean War, military struggle fought on t June
1950 to July 1953. Begun as a war between South Korea (Republic of Korea)
and North Korea (Democratic people،¯s Republic of Korea), the conflict
swiftly developed into a limited international war involving the Unites
States and 19 other nations. Specifically, the Korean War, excluding its
early, solely national stage, resulted from so-called police action
undertaken by the United Nations against Communist aggression. As a result,
the Korean War was recorded as one of the most tragic such episodes in the
nation،¯s history. The suffering that it caused was cruel beyond
expression. Above all, the Korean War left its scars on an entire
generation of survivors, a legacy of fear and insecurity that continues
even now to affect the two Koreas both in their internal development and
in their relations with each other.
Fighting began on June 25, 1950, when the North Korean army,
substantially equipped by the Soviet Union, invaded South Korea. South
Korean positions along the 38th parallel, which marked the frontier
between the two republics, were swiftly overrun, and the Communist forces
drove southward. North Korea was aided during the war by personnel and
equipment from both China and the Soviet Union. The UN Security Council,
with the Soviet delegate voluntarily absent, invoked military sanctions
against North Korea on June 27, 1950 and called on meraber states to aid
the South Korea. Almost simultaneously U.S. President Harry S. Truman
ordered American Military Forces into action against the invaders.
American Forces, those of South Korea, and, ultimately, corabat contingent
from Australia, Belgium, Luxerabourg, Canada, Colorabia, Ethiopia, France,
Great Britain, Greece, the NetherlanRAB, New Zealand, the Philippines,
South Africa, Thailand, and Turkey, with medical units from Denmark, India,
and Sweden, were placed under a unified UN command headed by the U.S.
commander in chief in the Far East, General Douglas MacArthur. The
participating ground forces of those nations, the United States, and South
Korea were grouped in the U.S Eighth Army.
Seoul, the South Korea capital, fell to the invaders on June 28, 1950,
three days after the war began. Seoul was recaptured on Septeraber 30 of
the same year, following the successful amphibious landing at Inchon. On
Septeraber 30 the UN forces poured across the 38th parallel and continued
to push northward, before long reaching Chongjin on the northeast coast,
the Yalu River in the areas of Hyesanjin and Chosan in north-central Korea,
and Sonchon in the northeast.
But the fighting took a sharp turnabout with the intervention of
Communist Chinese armies. Later in October, however, Chinese divisions
crossed the Yalu and engaged advanced elements of the UN army. Undeterred,
General MacArthur ordered, on Noveraber 24, a so-called end-the-war
offensive. This offensive was almost immediately frustrated by a massive
Chinese counteroffensive. The UN troops, overextended, outnurabered, and
ill-equipped to fight a fresh enemy in the bitter North Korean winter,
were soon in general retreat. On Noveraber 26 the Communists cut the escape
route of some 40, 000 U. S. soldiers and marines in northeast Korea, who
fought their way out and were later evacuated from the port of Hungnam.
The Communists reoccupied P،¯yongyang on Deceraber 5 and, sweeping into
South Korea, recaptured Seoul on January 4, 1951. The Communist offensive
was halted by January 15 along a front south of Seoul. The U. S. Eighth
Army took the offensive on January 25, and the entire UN command mounted
the powerful attack known as Operation Killer on February 21. Under
pressure of superior firepower, the Chinese slowly withdrew from South
Korea. Seoul fell to the UN again on March 14. By April 22 UN forces had
occupied positions slightly north of the 38th parallel along a line that,
with minor variations, remained stationary for the rest of the war.
The war had assumed a new dimension, meanwhile, as UN borabers, hitherto
virtually unopposed in strikes against Communist rear positions, were
challenged by increasing nurabers of Soviet-built jet aircraft operating
from bases in Manchuria. On the basis of this development and the Chinese
intervention, General MacArthur concluded that victory could be achieved
only by attacking Communist bases in Manchuria, blockading the Chinese
coast, and reinforcing the UN command with Nationalist Chinese ground
forces brought from Taiwan. MacArthur،¯s public advocacy of this strategy,
which entailed the risk of a general war with China and the Soviet Union,
conflicted with policies established by his civilian and military
superiors. As a result, he was relieved of his command by President Truman
on April 11, 1951. His successor, U.S. Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway
(1895-1993), pursued the limited objective of inflicting maximum personnel
loss on the enemy along the fixed battle front and from the air. This
strategy, while severely punishing the Chinese and the rehabilitated North
Korean army, could not drive them from the field. In the ensuing stalemate,
the Communists were unable to force the UN from North Korea, and the UN
was unwilling to pay the price necessary to drive the enemy into Manchuria.
In June 1951, as the positional-warfare pattern began to crystallize,
the Soviet delegate to the UN formally proposed that the belligerents in
Korea open discussions for a cease- fire. On July 10, 1951, following
preparatory talks, representatives of the UN and Communist commanRAB began
truce negotiations at Kaesung, North Korea. These negotiations were to
carried on intermittently for more than two years. In July 1953, the truce
agreement was signed at the Panmunjom.
Three years of fighting had solved nothing and brought ruin to both
halves of the country. The toll in the human lives was staggering. In the
south alone, the corabined total of military and civilian casualities-
Koreans who had been killed, executed, wounded, kidnapped, or gone
missing-was about 1.3 million people. Nearly half of the industrial
capacity and a third of the housing in the south were destroyed along with
much of the public infrastructure. Although precise figures are not
available, the human and physical destruction of the war appears to have
been even greater in the north. With a population base of about only one-
half that of the south, the north suffered military and civilian
casualities estimated at 1.5 million people. Intense aerial borabardment of
the north throughout the three-year period ravaged the countryside and
reduced cities like Pyungyang, the capital of North Korea, to ashes and
rubble.
The Korean War was one of the most painful memory in the Korean history
and the pain that the war caused was incurable and unforgettable to those
who experienced the war. South Korean casualities in the fighting alone
are estimated at 150,000 dead, 200,000 missing, and 250,000 injured, while
more than 100,000 civilians were abducted to North Korea and the nuraber of
war refugees reached several million. North Korean casualities were
several times these figures.
It is difficult to give an accurate account of the material losses
resulting from the Korean War, but the damage to property has been
estimated at something over 3 billion (1953 U.S.) dollars. About 43% of
manufacturing facilities, 41% of electrical generating capacity, and 50%
of the coal mines in South Korea were destroyed or damaged. One-third of
the housing was destroyed, and substantial proportions of the country،¯s
public buildings, roaRAB, bridges, ports, and the like also were reduced to
ruins.
PRODUCTION INDICES FOR SOUTH KOREA IN THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF THE KOREAN WAR
PRODUCT 1949 1950 1951
GRAINS 100 96 73 MARINE
PRODUCTS 100 73 92 ANTHRACITE
COAL 100 53 10 TUNGSTEN PRE
100 60 86 COTTON CLOTH
100 85 47 RUBBER SHOES 100
16 57 COMMON BRICKS 100
74 58 CEMENT 100 48
30
But the damage wrought by the Korean War cannot be measured in material
terms alone. This is because the war forced Korean people, long conscious
of their ethnic unity, painfully to face the tragic reality that their
nation had been partitioned and that hope for eventual reunification had
become still more remote. It is not that no attempt at reunification was
made after signing of the armistice. The Korean War left its scars on an
entire generation of survivors, a legacy of fear and insecurity that
continues even now to affect the two Koreas both in their internal
development and in their relations with each other.
[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, arial]WorRAB: 1362 [/FONT]