Korean War

The Korean War was the first major American military engagement after World War II.

At its core a civil war, the Korean War pitted South Korea (Republic of Korea) against North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) in a struggle to reunite a nation divided in the aftermath of World War II. Fighting alongside the Republic of Korea Army were American and other forces mobilized under the banner of the United Nations (UN). The (North) Korean People’s Army was joined by Chinese army forces and supported by the Soviet Union.

The underlying cause of the Korean War was the nature of the post-World War II occupation of Korea. Since 1910 Korea had been controlled by Japan and then Allied troops occupied the former Axis possession following World War II. In an arrangement necessitated by the rapid end of the war, American forces held the southern half of the country below the 38th parallel while Soviet forces occupied the northern half. Since the Koreans were not believed to be fit for immediate self-government, the Americans in the South and the Soviets in the North worked to develop favorable political elites and groom them for self-governance. The result led to the creation of the separate states of South Korea, under the leadership of Syngman Rhee, and North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Il Sung. Both men and their respective governments saw themselves as the rightful leaders of all of Korea and were supported as such by the respective occupying powers.

Prior to 1950, pressure mounted on the administration of President Harry S. Truman to deal with the perceived international threat of communism at home and abroad. The 1947 Truman Doctrine underscored the theory of containment, whereby the United States would attempt to prevent the spread of communism beyond where it already existed. In 1949, however, communist forces under the leadership of Mao Zedong emerged victorious in China, and the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb. The Truman administration was blamed for “losing” China, and an arms race developed between the United States and the Soviet Union. As a result, American fears of communism escalated. When war broke out in Korea, the Truman administration was politically compelled to intervene.

The conflict began on June 25, 1950, when North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea. Kim Il Sung masterminded the invasion after securing approval from both Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. North Korean forces advanced swiftly through the South, capturing the capital city of Seoul on June 28. South Korean forces were in disarray, severely outgunned by the Soviet - and Chinese-backed army of the North.

American secretary of state Dean Acheson insisted that the United States respond swiftly to defend South

Korea. In order to rally public and international support, the American government asked the UN Security Council to condemn the North Korean aggression and repel the invasion. The Soviet delegate to the Security Council held the power to veto this decision, but he was currently boycotting the council, and so action proceeded. American forces therefore fought the Korean War under the banner of the United Nations (UN), joined by British, Canadian, Australian, and other troops. Due in part to UN involvement, the United States never officially declared war against North Korea or China. The Korean War was instead referred to as a “United Nations police action.”

The first American troops arrived in South Korea in early July and were put under the overall command of General Douglas MacArthur. South Korean and UN forces were forced to retreat to the southeastern tip of the peninsula around the city of Pusan until sufficient American military strength was present in Korea. After a North Korean assault on Pusan was repelled, MacArthur’s troops staged an amphibious assault behind the front lines on the city of Inchon, catching the North Koreans by surprise and forcing them to retreat in disarray. By October, South Korean troops were chasing the North Korean army back across the 38th parallel, and under authority from the UN General Assembly, UN forces joined South Korea in invading the North in an attempt to unify the country.

Shortly after the advancement of UN forces across the 38th parallel, Mao Zedong ordered Chinese troops to cross the Yalu River and join the fighting on the side of the North Koreans. Although UN forces swiftly advanced up the peninsula, capturing the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and driving as far as the Yalu River in some areas, the entry of China into the war balanced the playing field. In December 1950, Chinese and North Korean troops successfully drove South Korean and UN forces back beyond the 38th parallel. By June 1951, a series of offensives and counteroffensives left the war a stalemate. Although fighting continued well into 1953, most major territorial penetrations were over by mid-1951.

Meanwhile, tension between Truman and General MacArthur escalated, boiling over in April 1951, when Truman relieved MacArthur of his command. MacAr-thur strongly advocated the use of atomic weapons against North Korean and Chinese targets, but Truman was unwilling to risk having a “police action” turn into a nuclear war. General Matthew Ridgway replaced MacAr-thur as commander in Korea, and MacArthur returned to a hero’s welcome in the United States. Truman’s conflict with the popular MacArthur and the stalemate in Korea helped undermine the president’s credibility at home. Although eligible to seek another term, Truman declined to run for reelection in 1952. Instead, World War II hero Dwight D. Eisenhower won the presidential election,

Pvt. Seiju Nakandakarc and Pvt. Ralph Saul operate a new 3.5 bazooka on the front lines somewhere in Korea, 1950. (Library of Congress)

Having campaigned in part on a pledge to go to Korea in order to end the war.

A state of stalemate persisted from mid-1951 through 1953 largely because the two sides were unable to work out a compromise on the issue of prisoners of war (POWs). North Korea mistreated many American and allied POWs, and many captured North Korean soldiers wanted to remain in South Korea. In addition, Syngman Rhee and the South Korean government stymied progress in securing an end to hostilities by insisting that any peace plan should reunify Korea.

Finally, on July 27, 1953, a cease-fire agreement was signed, ending the Korean War. American casualties during the conflict totaled approximately 34,000 dead and many more wounded, with other UN nations suffering modest casualties. An estimated 4 million Koreans died during the war, with two-thirds of that number civilians. The physical destruction to the peninsula, and especially to North Korea’s economic infrastructure, was incalculable. Tension between the two halves of Korea persisted, with North Korea going so far as to boycott the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

The long-term effects on the United States also ran deep. The United States and the People’s Republic of China did not normalize relations until 1973. Additionally, although Eisenhower sought to curtail military expenditures, the Korean War played a key role in the expansion of what Eisenhower called the MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. The budget for U. S. defense spending was increased by billions of dollars during the war, while the conflict established a precedent for American military intervention against communism in remote parts of the globe, leading in part to eventual American intervention in the Vietnam War.

In October 1986 Congress authorized the American Battle Monuments Commission to design and construct a Korean War monument for Washington, D. C. Located in West Potomac Park, the memorial was dedicated on July 27, 1995, the 42nd anniversary of the armistice. Designed by Frank Gaylord, stainless steel statues depicting different squads on patrol form the centerpiece of the monument. Other notable features include the United Nations Wall that lists the 22 member nations that contributed troops or medical aid to the war effort and a pool of remembrance with inscriptions of those killed, wounded, missing in action, or taken as prisoners of war.

Further reading: Bruce Cumings, Origins of the Korean War (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1981); Peter Lowe, The Korean War (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000).

—Phil Huckelberry

Korematsu, Fred See Volume VIII.

Kroc, Ray See McDonald’s.