Korean War

Korean War
	Part of The Cold War
	File:Soldiers Climbing Sea Wall in Inchon.jpg
Date	1950–1953 (disputed, see article for more detail)
Location	Korean peninsula
Result	Western Allied/UN tactical victory, strategic stalemate, Continued partition of Korea failure of communist goal to conquer South Korea
Belligerents
Western Allied/UN combatants:; South Korea,; United States	Communist combatants:; North Korea,; People's Republic of China
Strength
Note: All figures may vary according to source. United Nations Command: South Korea 590,911; USA 302,483 to 480,000; United Kingdom 14,198; The Philippines 7,000; Canada 6,146 to 26,791; Turkey 5,190; The Netherlands 3.972; Australia 2,282; New Zealand 1,389; Thailand 1,294; Ethiopia 1,271; Greece 1,263; France 1,119; Colombia 1,068; Belgium 900; South Africa 826; Luxembourg 44; ; Total: 933,845 to 1,100,000	North Korea 260,000; China 780,000; Soviet Union Up to 26,000, mostly pilots and support staff; Total: ~1,060,000@
Casualties and losses
1,271,244 to 1,818,410	1,858,000 to 3,822,000 Chinese and North Koreans,; 315 Soviet KIA, died of wounds or disease (including 168 officers)

The Korean War, from June 25 1950 to cease-fire on July 27 1953 (the war has not ended officially), was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea. Some consider this Cold War-era conflict to have been a proxy war between the United States and its allies, and the Communist powers of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The principal combatants were North Korea, supported by People's Volunteer Army (PVA;中国人民志愿军) of Communist China, and later Soviet combat advisors, aircraft pilots, and weapons; and South Korea, supported principally by the United States (U.S.), the United Kingdom (UK), and the Philippines, although many other nations sent troops under the aegis of the United Nations (UN).

In South Korea, it is often called "6·25" (the date of the start of the conflict), or, more formally, Hanguk Jeonjaeng (한국전쟁).

In the United States, the conflict was termed a police action, as the Korean Conflict, under the aegis of the United Nations rather than a war, largely in order to remove the necessity of a Congressional declaration of war.

Historical background

Main articles: Korea under Japanese rule, Division of Korea

Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 until the end of World War II in 1945. On August 6, 1945, the Soviet Union, in keeping with an arrangement made with the United States government, but breaking its 1941 non-aggression pact with Japan, declared war on the Japanese Empire and on August 8 entered Korea from the North. President Harry S Truman ordered the landing of U.S. troops in the South.[1]

On August 10, 1945, with the Japanese surrender imminent, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea along the 38th parallel and that Japanese forces north of that line would surrender to the Soviet Union and those south of that line would surrender to the United States. The peninsula was effectively divided into zones of control in the North and South under the administration of the two major powers. However, the U.S. did not consider this to be a permanent partition.

In December 1945, the U.S. and the Soviet Union agreed to administer the country temporarily. Concurrently, both countries established governments in their respective halves, each one favorable to their political ideology. In the process, the U.S. ran elections supervised by the UN, replacing an indigenous, left-wing government that had formed in June 1945 before the end of the war, with one led by anti-Communist Syngman Rhee. The southern part's left-wing parties boycotted the elections. The Soviet Union, in turn, approved the seizure of power by a Communist government led by Kim Il-Sung in the northern part. The Allies said that Korea would be a unified, independent country under an elected government but failed to specify the details.

South Korean President Syngman Rhee and North Korean General Secretary Kim Il-Sung were each intent on reuniting the peninsula under their own systems. In part because of Soviet tanks and heavy arms, the North Koreans were able to go on the offensive, while South Korea, with only limited American backing, had far fewer options. At the time, the American government believed that the Communist bloc was a unified monolith, and that North Korea acted within this monolith as a pawn of the Soviet Union (a view that in the case of North Korea is largely substantiated by documents from the Soviet archives showing that Kim Il-Sung, operating with some Soviet assistance, was responsible for the invasion of the South, and discrediting a popular viewpoint of the 1960s and 1970s that the war was just as much caused by South Korean and Western provocation). In 1949, both Russian and American forces were withdrawn.

On January 12, 1950, United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson told the National Press Club that America's Pacific defense perimeter was made up of the Aleutians, Ryukyu, Japan, and the Philippines implying that the U.S. might not fight over Korea. This omission, though not deliberate, encouraged the North and the Soviets.

File:Crossing the 38th parallel.jpg

Border crossing at the 38th Parallel

The People's Republic of China was wary of a war in Korea. Mao Zedong was concerned that it would encourage American intervention in Asia and would destabilize the region and interfere with plans to destroy the Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai-Shek which had retreated to Taiwan. In early 1949, Kim Il-sung pressed his case with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin that the time had come for a full-scale invasion and take-over of the South. Stalin refused permission, concerned about the relative unpreparedness of the North Korean armed forces and about possible U.S. involvement. In the course of the next year, the Communist leadership built the North Korean army into a formidable offensive organization modeled after a Soviet mechanized force. By 1950, the North Koreans enjoyed substantial advantages over the South in every category of equipment. After another visit by Kim to Moscow in March–April 1950, Stalin approved an invasion.

Korean War (1950-1953)

The war begins (June 25, 1950)

In the pre-dawn hours of June 25, 1950, North Korea struck across the 38th parallel behind a thunderous artillery barrage and 135,000 troops crossed the border. The Northern government claimed that South Korean troops under the "bandit traitor" Syngman Rhee had crossed the 38th parallel, and thus the South had started the war. Advised and equipped by the Soviets, with 150 T-34s, and huge reserves of manpower, their surprise attack was a devastating success. At least two thirds of the Korean Army, a paper force of 38,000, were off duty at the time, leaving the country open to attack. North Korea attacked at many key places, which included: Kaesong, Chunchon, Uijongbu, and Ongjin. Within days South Korean forces, outnumbered and out-gunned, were in full retreat. As the ground attack continued, the North Korean Air Force conducted bombing on Kimpo Airport in Seoul. Seoul was captured by the North Koreans on the afternoon of June 28, but the North Koreans had not accomplished their goal of a quick surrender by the Rhee government and the disintegration of the South Korean Army.

The invasion of South Korea (Republic of Korea, ROK) came as a surprise to the United States and the other western powers; in the preceding week, on June 20, Dean Acheson of the State Department had told Congress that war was unlikely. Truman himself was contacted hours after the invasion had begun; he was convinced that this was the beginning of World War 3.

Despite the post-World War II demobilization of U.S. and Allied forces, which caused serious supply problems for American troops in the region (excluding the United States Marines, the infantry divisions sent to Korea were at 40% of paper strength, and the majority of their equipment was found to be useless), the United States still had substantial forces in Japan, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. Apart from British Commonwealth units, no other nation could supply sizeable manpower. President Harry S. Truman, on hearing of the invasion, ordered MacArthur to transfer munitions to the ROK Army (ROKA) and to use air cover to protect the evacuation of U.S. citizens. Truman did not agree with his advisors suggestion to employ unilateral U.S. airstrikes against the North Korean forces, but did order the Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan, thereby ending the policy of the United States of acquiescing to the defeat of the forces of Chiang Kai-Shek. The Chinese Nationalists government, now confined to Taiwan, asked to participate in the war, but their request was denied by the Americans who felt they would only encourage Communist Chinese intervention.

The other western powers quickly agreed with the American actions and volunteered their support for the effort, but by August the South Korean forces and the U.S. Eighth Army, which had arrived to help South Korea resist the Communist invasion, were driven into a small area in the southeast corner of the Korean peninsula around the city of Pusan. With the aid of American supplies, air support, and additional reinforcements, the U.S. and ROK forces managed to stabilize a line along the Nakdong River. This became a desperate holding action called the Pusan Perimeter. Although more UN support arrived, the situation was dire, and looked as though the North could gain control of the entire peninsula.

The Chinese entry (October, 1950)

While the People's Republic of China had issued warnings that they would intervene if any non-South Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel, Truman regarded the warnings as "a bald attempt to blackmail the UN." On October 8, 1950, the day after American troops crossed the 38th, Chairman Mao issued the order for the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (actually regulars in the Chinese People's Liberation Army) to be moved to the Yalu River, ready to cross. Mao sought Soviet aid and saw intervention as essentially defensive: "If we allow the U.S. to occupy all of Korea… we must be prepared for the US to declare… war with China," he told Stalin. Premier Zhou Enlai was sent to Moscow to add force to Mao's cabled arguments. Mao delayed his forces while waiting for Russian help, and the planned attack was thus postponed from 13 October to 19 October. Soviet assistance was limited to providing air support no nearer than sixty miles (96 km) to the battlefront. The MiG-15s in PRC colours were an unpleasant surprise to the UN pilots; they held local air superiority against the P-80 Shooting Stars until the newer F-86 Sabres were deployed. The Soviet role was known to the U.S. but they kept quiet to avoid any international and potential nuclear incidents.

On October 15, 1950, Truman went to Wake Island to discuss the possibility of Chinese intervention and his desire to limit the scope of the Korean conflict. MacArthur reassured to Truman that "if the Chinese tried to get down to Pyongyang there would be the greatest slaughter."

On October 19, 1950, Pyongyang fell to UN forces.

The Chinese assault began on October 25, 1950, under the command of General Peng Dehuai with 270,000 PVA troops. The Chinese assault caught the UN troops by surprise, as war between PRC and the United Nations had not been declared and the Chinese, employing great skill and remarkable camouflage discipline, concealed their numeric and divisional strength after the first engagement with the UN. After these initial engagements, the Chinese withdrew into the mountains; UN forces ignored the stern warning delivered by the Chinese and continued their advance to the Yalu. In late November, the Chinese struck once more. In the west, along the Chongchon River, the Chinese overran several ROK divisions and landed an extremely heavy blow into the flank of the remaining UN forces; the resulting withdrawal of the United States Eighth Army was the longest retreat of an American unit in national history. In the east, at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir (November 26–December 13) a 3,000 man unit from the US 7th Infantry Division, Task Force Faith, was virtually wiped out. The Marines fared better; though surrounded and forced to retreat, they inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese who committed 6 divisions while trying to destroy the Marines.

UN forces in northeast Korea withdrew to form a defensive perimeter around the port city of Hungnam, where a Dunkirk-style evacuation was carried out in late December 1950. Approximately 100,000 military personnel and material and another 100,000 North Korean civilians were loaded onto a variety of merchant and military transport ships and safely evacuated to ports in UN-held territory on the southern tip of Korea.

On January 4, 1951, Communist Chinese and North Korean forces captured Seoul. Both the 8th Army and the X Corps were forced to retreat. General Walker was killed in an accident. He was replaced by Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway, who had led airborne troops in World War II. Ridgway took immediate steps to raise the morale and fighting spirit of the battered Eighth Army, which had fallen to low levels during its retreat from North Korea. Nevertheless, the situation was so grim that MacArthur mentioned that atomic weapons might be used, much to the alarm of America's allies. In March 1951, in Operation Ripper, a revitalized Eighth Army - restored by Ridgway to fighting trim - drove the North Korean and Chinese troops from Seoul.

MacArthur was removed from command by President Truman on April 11, 1951. The reasons for this are many and well documented. They include MacArthur's meeting with ROC President Chiang Kai-shek in the role of a U.S. diplomat; his increasingly erratic behavior on the battlefield; and his miscalculation at Wake Island when Truman asked him specifically about Chinese troop buildup near the Korean border. Furthermore, MacArthur openly demanded nuclear attack on China, despite Truman's desire to avoid escalation into a wider conflict with China and a possible nuclear exchange with the USSR. Truman concluded that MacArthur's actions were in clear violation of Truman's superiority as Commander-in-Chief and of the Constitutional principle of civilian control of the military, and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously upheld Truman's position, despite their respect for MacArthur's accomplishments on the battlefield. MacArthur was succeeded by Ridgway, who managed to regroup UN forces for an effective counter-offensive. A series of attacks managed to slowly drive back the communist forces, inflicting heavy casualties on Chinese and North Korean units as the Eighth Army advanced some miles north of the 38th parallel.

Historian and Korean War veteran Bevin Alexander had this to say about Chinese tactics in his book How Wars Are Won:

The Chinese had no air power and were armed only with rifles, machineguns, hand grenades, and mortars. Against the much more heavily armed Americans, they adapted a technique they had used against the Nationalists in the Chinese civil war of 1946–49. The Chinese generally attacked at night and tried to close in on a small troop position--generally a platoon--and then attacked it with local superiority in numbers. The usual method was to infiltrate small units, from a platoon of fifty men to a company of 200, split into separate detachments. While one team cut off the escape route of the Americans, the others struck both the front and the flanks in concerted assaults. The attacks continued on all sides until the defenders were destroyed or forced to withdraw. The Chinese then crept forward to the open flank of the next platoon position, and repeated the tactics.

Stalemate (July, 1951)

Panmunjeom, Border between South and North Korea at the DMZ

The rest of the war involved little territory change and lengthy peace negotiations (which started in Kaesong on July 10 of the same year). Even during the peace negotiations combat continued. For the South Korean and allied forces, the goal was to recapture all of what had been South Korea before an agreement was reached in order to avoid losing any territory. The Chinese did a similar operation at the battle of "The Hook" where they were repelled by British forces. A major issue of the negotiations was repatriation of POWs. The Communists agreed to voluntary repatriation, but only if the majority of North Korean and Chinese POWs would return to China or North Korea. However, when polled the majority elected to not return. The war continued until the Communists eventually dropped this issue.

U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 29 1952 fulfilled a campaign promise by travelling to Korea to find out what could be done to end the conflict. With the United Nations' acceptance of India's proposal for Korean armistice, eventually, a cease-fire was established on July 27 1953, by which time the front line was back in the proximity of the 38th parallel, and so a demilitarized zone (DMZ) was established around it, which is still defended today by North Korean troops on one side and South Korean and American troops on the other. The DMZ passes to the north of the parallel towards the east, and to the south as it travels west. The site of the peace talks, Kaesong, the old capital of Korea, was part of the South before hostilities broke out but is currently a special city of the North. No peace treaty has been signed up to this day.

Western reaction

File:Whitney MacArthur Almond 1950.jpg

US Army Generals Courtney Whitney, Douglas MacArthur, and Edward Almond in Korea

American action was taken for a number of reasons. Truman, a Democratic president, was under severe domestic pressure for being too soft on communism (Republican senator Joseph McCarthy stated that the State Department was "infested" with Communists). Especially vocal were those who accused the Democrats of having "lost" China. The intervention was also an important implementation of the new Truman Doctrine, which advocated the opposition of communism everywhere it tried to expand. The lessons of Munich in 1938 also influenced the American decision, believing that appeasing communism would only encourage further expansion.

Instead of pressing for a congressional declaration of war, which he regarded as too alarmist and time-consuming when time was of the essence, Truman went to the United Nations for approval. Thanks to a temporary Soviet absence from the Security Council — the Soviets were boycotting the Security Council to protest the exclusion of People's Republic of China (PRC) from the UN — there would be no veto by Stalin. The (Nationalist controlled) Republic of China government held the Chinese seat. Without the Soviet and Chinese veto and with only Yugoslavia abstaining, the UN voted to aid South Korea on June 27. U.S. forces were eventually joined during the conflict by troops from fifteen other UN members: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Greece, the Netherlands, Ethiopia, Colombia, the Philippines, Belgium,Luxembourg, and India. Although American opinion was solidly behind the venture, Truman would later take harsh criticism for not obtaining a declaration of war from Congress before sending troops to Korea. Thus, "Truman's War" was said by some to have violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the United States Constitution.

The first significant American combat unit to arrive in South Korea was Task Force Smith, part of the U.S. Army 24th Infantry Division based in Japan. On July 5 it engaged in the first North Korean-U.S. clash of the war at Osan, and was driven back with heavy losses. The rest of the half strength 24th Division next confronted the North Koreans and was soon overwhelmed and forced to fall back to Taejon, which also fell. At the Pusan Perimeter, American Eighth Army commander Lieutenant General Walton Walker was able to maneuver his forces to successfully confront the North Koreans as they attempted a flanking maneuver instead of concentrating their forces which might have destroyed U.N. forces in the area, but nonetheless, by September, only the area around Pusan, about 10% of the total Korean peninsula, was still in the hands of the coalition.

Characteristics

Air War

The Korean War was the last major war where propeller-powered fighters such as the P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, A-1 Skyraider (though used with distinction in a ground-attack role in Vietnam), F4U-5N, and aircraft carrier-based Supermarine Seafire, Fairey Firefly, and Hawker Sea Fury, deployed by the British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy, were used, as jet fighters (US Air Force F-80s, and US Navy or US Marine Corps Grumman F9F Panthers, and McDonnell F2H Banshees) came to dominate the skies, overwhelming North Korea's propeller-driven Yakovlev Yak-9s and Lavochkin La-9s.

From 1950, North Korea introduced MiG-15 jet fighters, piloted by experienced Soviet Air Force pilots, a casus belli deliberately overlooked by the UN allied forces who were reluctant to engage in open war with the Soviet Union and China. At first UN jet fighters, which now included Royal Australian Air Force Gloster Meteor Mk.8s, had some success, but the superior quality of the MiGs soon held sway over the first generation jets used by the UN, leading to the loss of 3046 allied aircraft during the Korean war.

Even after the USAF introduced the more advanced F-86, its pilots often struggled against the Soviet jets, as the MiG-15 had an edge in ceiling, acceleration, rate of climb, and armament (3 cannons vs. 6 machine-guns), although overall speed and roll rate were slightly inferior. The U.N. gradually gained a numerical advantage, and their aggressiveness gave them an air superiority that lasted until the end of the war — a decisive factor in helping the U.N. first advance into the north, and then resist the Chinese invasion of South Korea. The Chinese also had jet power, but the American forces had superior training for their pilots.

Among other factors which helped tip the balance toward the U.N. jets were the F-86s' better radar gunsight, which led to installation of the first radar warning receiver on MiG fighters, better cockpit visibility, better stability and control at high speed and high altitudes, and the introduction of the first G-suits. U.S. pilots claimed to achieve impressive success with the F-86, stating to shoot down 792 MiG-15s and 108 additional aircraft for the loss of 78 Sabres, a ratio in excess of 10:1. Some post-war research has only able to confirm 379 victories, although the USAF continues to maintain its official credits. Direct comparison of Sabre and MiG losses seem irrelevant, as primary targets for MiGs were heavy B-29 bombers, and primary targets for Sabres were MiG-15s. Recently exposed Soviet documentation claims that 345 Soviet MiG-15s were lost during the Korean war.

Soviet sources claimed at that time, however, about 1300 victories and 335 MiG losses. China's official losses were 231 planes shot down in air-to-air combat (mostly MiG-15) and 168 other losses. The number of losses of the North Korean Air Force was not revealed. It is estimated that it lost about 200 aircraft in the first stage of the war, and another 70 aircraft since Chinese intervention. Soviet's claims of 650 victories over F-86s and China's claims of another 211 F-86s in air combats are regarded as exaggerated by the USAF. A recent publication showed that the total number of USAF F-86s ever present in the Korean peninsula during the war was only 674 and the total F-86s losses due to all causes were about 230. With each side making their own claims it is difficult to conclude on the actual losses and kills of the air war.

Throughout the conflict, the United States maintained a policy of heavy bombing, especially using incendiary weapons, against any and all North Korean settlements. Although images of the civilian victims of the weapon were to be ingrained upon the memory of the world in Vietnam, significantly more napalm was dropped on North Korea, despite the relative short length of the conflict. Tens of thousands of gallons were dropped on targets in Korea each day.

In May and June of 1953, the United States Air Force undertook a mission to destroy several key irrigation and hydroelectric dams, in order to critically hamper agriculture and industry in the North. The Kusǒng (구성), Tǒksan (덕산) and Pujǒn (부전) River dams were all destroyed, severely flooding vast areas of land, drowning thousands and ultimately starving many more.

See also British Commonwealth Forces Korea

Atrocities

Declassifed U.S. document: "The army has requested we strafe all civilian refugee parties approaching our positions. To date, we have complied with the army request in this respect". The document goes on to say that these actions are not right.

File:Korean War Massacre.jpg

Civilians massacred by retreating Communist forces during the Korean War are packed into trenches in Daejeon, South Korea, October 1950.

North Korean troops, South Koreans, Chinese and United States personnel targeted civilians and/or mistreated POWs in some cases. Specifically, there is extremely strong evidence to suggest:

North Korean and Chinese troops reportedly tortured and executed prisoners on a number of occasions, including shooting wounded soldiers lying at their feet.
American troops were under orders to consider any unidentified people on the battlefield approaching their position as hostile and neutralize them. The reason for these orders was that Communist infiltrators frequently hid among Korean refugees or that supposed refugees were actually composed of Communist infiltrators. On some occasions (No Gun Ri) hundreds of refugees were allegedly shot at and strafed.
Communist forces rounded up and executed thousands of civilians in captured villages. It is claimed that more than 100,000 were killed in 1950 during the capture of Seoul alone.
South Korean forces executed without trial tens of thousands of alleged "Communist sympathizers".

Many consider these events to be atrocities and some refer to them as "war crimes". It is of little doubt that the killing of prisoners of war or wounded soldiers by signatories of the Geneva conventions (especially GCIV) is a war crime, as these conventions specifically disallow it. However, no conventions of the time forbade the killing, purposefully or accidentally, of enemy civilians, and there does not seem to be any legal basis in calling these actions "war crimes." It is more reasonable to label them as crimes against humanity. There are Additional Protocols to the Geneva Convention formed in 1977 which call for the protection of civilians, as do several UN Security Council Resolutions, but these all appear to post-date the war in Korea.

There are many more cases than those listed above but evidence, rather than accusations, is hard to come by. At the time, many of the killings were felt to be justified because of the fear of infiltration by irregular forces by the South Koreans and as a terror tactic by the North Koreans. It is also worth keeping in mind that the Korean war began only five years after the Second World War ended, a war during which targeting of civilians was severe and routine by all major parties involved.

All parties have denied these actions during the war and afterward, but the U.S. has admitted its policy of strafing certain refugee groups.

Legacy

The Korean War was the first armed confrontation of the Cold War, and it set a model for many later conflicts. It created the idea of a limited war, where the two superpowers would fight without descending to an all out war that could involve nuclear weapons. It also expanded the Cold War, which to that point had mostly been concerned with Europe.

Korea

600,000 Korean soldiers died in the conflict according to US estimates. The total, including all civilians and military soldiers from UN Nations and China, was over 2 million deaths. More than a million South Koreans were killed, 85% of them civilians. According to figures published in the Soviet Union, 11.1% of the total population of North Korea perished, which indicates that 1,130,000 people were killed. In sum, about 2,500,000 people were killed, including North and South together. More than 80% of the industrial and public facilities and transportation works, three-quarters of the government offices, and one-half of the houses were destroyed.

The war left the peninsula permanently divided with a garrisoned pro-Soviet, totalitarian Communist state in North Korea and a pro-American dictatorial republic (democratized in the late 1980s) in the South. American troops remain in Korea as part of the still-functioning United Nations Command, which commands all allied military forces in the ROK - American Air Forces, Korea, the Eighth U.S. Army, and the entire ROK military. The DMZ remains the most heavily-defended border in the world.

See also: Division of Korea, Korean Demilitarized Zone, Korean reunification

The United States of America

There has been some confusion over the previously reported number of 54,246 Korean War deaths. That number was divided by the Defense Department in 1993 into 33,686 battle deaths, 2830 non-battle deaths, and 17,730 deaths of Defense Department personnel outside the Korean theatre [2]. There were also 8,142 US personnel listed as Missing In Action (MIA) during the war. US casualties in Korean war are less than in the Vietnam War, but they occurred over 3 years as opposed to 13 years (1960-1973) in Vietnam. However, advances in medical services such as the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital and the use of rapid transport of the wounded to them such as with helicopters enabled the death rate for UN forces to be much lower than in previous wars. For service during the Korean War, the United States military was issued the Korean Service Medal.

Later neglect of remembrance of this war, in favor of the Vietnam War, World War I and II, has caused the Korean War to be called the Forgotten War or the Unknown War. A memorial called the Korean War Veterans Memorial was built in Washington, D.C. and dedicated to veterans of the war on July 27 1995.

The U.S. military had been caught ill-prepared for the war. Accordingly, after the war, the American defense budget was boosted to $50 billion, the Army was doubled in size, as was the number of Air Groups, and they were deployed beyond American soil in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia.

The war also changed America's view of the Third World, most notably in Indochina. Before 1950 the Americans had been very critical of French endeavours to reestablish its presence there against local resistance; after Korea they began to heavily support the French against the Viet Minh and other nationalist-communist local parties, paying for up to 80% of the French military budget in Vietnam.

The Korean War also saw the beginning of racial integration efforts in the US military service, where African Americans fought in integrated units. President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 on July 26 1948, calling on the armed forces to provide equal treatment and opportunity for black servicemen. The extent by which Truman's 1948 orders were carried out varied among the branches of the military, with segregated units still in deployment at the start of the conflict, and eventually integrating towards the end of the war. The last large segregated operational unit was the U.S. 24th Infantry Regiment. It was deactivated on October 1,1951.

The United States still maintains a heavy military presence in Korea, as part of the effort to uphold the armistice between South and North Korea. A special service decoration, known as the Korea Defense Service Medal is authorized for U.S. service members who serve a tour of duty in Korea.

The People's Republic of China (the Communist regime)

From official Chinese sources, PVA casualties during the Korean War were 390,000. This breaks down as follows: 110,400 KIA; 21,600 died of wounds; 13,000 died of sickness; 25,600 MIA/POW; and 260,000 more WIA. However various Western and Eastern sources estimate that about 500,000 to 1 million Chinese soldiers were either killed in action or died of disease, starvation, exposure, and accidents. Overall total Chinese killed, wounded and missing equal to about less than 1 million. Mao Zedong (毛澤東)'s only healthy son, Mao Anying (毛岸英), was also killed as a PVA during the war.

As the PVA rotated about 2 million troops during the war the casualties figure of most western sources would seem to be too high. If the PVA had suffered 500,000 casualties (1/4 of all troops rotated) or 1,000,000 casualties (1/2 of all troops rotated) the PVA would almost certainly have been so weakened that they would not have been able to defend the line let alone mount any meaningful offensive. However, as the battle line hardly moved from 1951 to 1953 the high casualty figures should be regarded with some skepticism.

It also contributed to the decline of Sino-Soviet relations. Although Chinese had their own reasons to enter the war (i.e. a strategic buffer zone in the Korean peninsula), the view that the Soviets had used them as proxies was shared in the Western bloc. China had to use the Soviet loan, which had been originally intended to rebuild their destroyed economy, to pay for the Soviet arms. However, the fact that Chinese forces held their own against American forces in this war heralded that China was once again becoming a major world power. By many Chinese the war is generally seen as an honour in the People's Republic of China history as it was the first time in a century a Chinese army was able to withstand a Western army in a major conflict, in spite of China's heavy losses.

The Republic of China (the Nationalist / Kuomintang regime)

After the war was over, 14,000 of the Chinese prisoners of war hostile to Communists of the People's Republic of China defected to the Republic of China (in contrast, only 7,110 Chinese POWs opted to return to China). The defectors arrived in Taiwan on Jan 23, 1954 and were referred to as "Anti-Communist volunteers" (反共義士). Each year Jan 23 is named World Freedom Day (自由日) [3] [4] in their honour in Taiwan.

The Korean War also led to other long lasting effects. Until the conflict in Korea, the United States had largely abandoned the government of Chiang Kai-Shek, which had retreated to Taiwan, and had no plans to intervene the Chinese civil war. The start of the Korean War rendered untenable any policy that would have caused Taiwan to fall under Communist control and Truman's decision to send American forces into the Taiwan straits saved the Kuomintang's government from defeat and ended any immediate hopes of conquering that island for the Communist Party of China. The anti-Communist atmosphere in the West in response to the Korean War contributed to the unwillingness to diplomatically recognize the People's Republic of China by the West until the 1970s.

Japan

Japan was politically disturbed both from the security threat to Japan because of the initial defeat of South Korea and from left-wing activities in support of North Korea and aiming to bring about a revolution in Japan. Additionally, as American occupation armies were dispatched to Korean peninsula, Japan's security became problematic. Under United States' guidance Japan established Reserved Police, later developed to the Japan Self-Defense Forces (自衛隊). The signing of the Treaty of Peace with Japan (日本国との平和条約; popularly known as the Treaty of San Francisco) was also hastened to return Japan back into international communities. In the eyes of some American policy makers, the non-belligerency clause in the constitution was already being considered a "mistake" by 1953.

Economically, Japan was able to benefit from the war. American material requirements were organized through a Special Procurements system, which allowed for local purchasing without the complex Pentagon procurement system. Over $3.5 billion was spent with Japanese companies, peaking at $809 million in 1953. The zaibatsu (財閥) went from being distrusted to being encouraged — Mitsui (三井), Mitsubishi (三菱), and Sumitomo (住友) were amongst the zaibatsu that thrived, not only on orders from the military but through American industrial experts, including W. Edwards Deming. Japanese manufacturing grew by 50% between March 1950 and 1951. By 1952, pre-war standards of living were regained and output was twice the level of 1949. Becoming an independent country due to the Treaty of San Francisco also saved Japan from the burden of expense of the occupation forces.

Europe

Main article: European Defense Community

The outbreak of the Korean War convinced Western leaders of the growing threat of international communism. The United States began to encourage Western European countries, West Germany included, to contribute to their own defense. German rearmament, however, was perceived as a threat by its neighbours, especially France. As the Korean War continued, however, opposition to rearmament lessened and China's entry in the war caused France to revise its position towards German rearmament. To contain a newly-armed Germany, French officials proposed the creation of the European Defense Community (EDC), a supranational organisation, under the aegis of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

The end of the Korean War reduced the perceived Communist threat, and thus it reduced the necessity of such an organisation. The French Parliament postponed the ratification of the EDC Treaty sine die (i.e. without a clear date). This rejection in the French Parliament was caused by Gaullist fears that the creation of the EDC threatened France's national sovereignty. The EDC was never ratified, and the initiative collapsed in August, 1954.

Depiction

Artistic depiction

Artist Pablo Picasso's painting Massacre in Korea (1951) depicted violence against civilians during the Korean War. By some account, civilian killings committed by U.S. forces in Shinchun, Hwanghae Province was the motive of the painting. In South Korea, the painting was deemed anti-American, a longtime taboo in the South, and thus was prohibited for public display until the 1990s.

In the United States far and away the most famous artistic depiction of the war is M*A*S*H, originally a novel by Richard Hooker (pseudonym for H. Richard Hornberger) that was later turned into a successful movie and television series. All three versions depict the misadventures of the staff of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital as they struggle to keep their sanity through the war's absurdities through ribald humour and hijinks when not treating wounded.

Although M*A*S*H gave a fairly accurate depiction of a US Army field hospital in the Korean War, there were a few flaws in the TV series. For instance, there were far more Korean doctors in the M*A*S*H units than shown in the series. In the series, nearly all the doctors were American. The first few episodes featured an African-American doctor, Spearchucker Jones. This character was removed upon the revelation that there were no African American doctors serving in Korea. Furthermore, the television series lasted for eleven years, while the actual war lasted only three (of course, one cannot blame the screenwriters and the producers for creating a popular show); among other things, the characters aged far more visibly over the course of the series than they might have done during the actual three-year conflict. Additionally, the series was filmed in California, which has a very different physical environment than the Korean peninsula.

Film

Fixed Bayonets (1951). U.S. soldiers in Korea surviving the harsh winter of 1951. Directed by Samuel Fuller.

The Steel Helmet (1951). A squad of U.S. soldiers holds up in a Buddhist temple. Directed by Samuel Fuller.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954). A U.S. Navy Reserve pilot flying attack missions over North Korea, from the novel by James Michener. Directed by Mark Robson and starring William Holden.

Shangganling Battle (Shanggan Ling, Chinese: 上甘岭, BW-1956)，in the Korean war in early 1950s, a group of Chinese People's Volunteer soldiers are blocked in Shangganling mountain area for several days. Short of both food and water, they hold their ground till the relief troops arrive. d: Meng Sha, Lin Shan; C: Gao Baocheng, XuLIinge, Liu Yuru; M: changchun.

Pork Chop Hill (1957). A true story about US soldiers attempting to retake the top of a hill. Directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Gregory Peck.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962). The principal characters in the film are captured and brainwashed during the Korean War. (The 2004 remake of the movie instead used the Persian Gulf War of 1991).

M*A*S*H (1970), about the staff of a Korean War field hospital who use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war. Directed by Robert Altman.

M*A*S*H (1972-1983) was also a long-running television sitcom, inspired by the movie, and featuring Alan Alda. The television series lasted longer than the Korean Conflict (up until the cease-fire was signed in 1953).

Inchon (1981). The movie portrays the Battle of Incheon, a turning point in the war. Controversially, the film was partially financed by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Movement. It became a notorious financial and critical failure, losing an estimated $40 million of its $46 million budget, and remains the last mainstream Hollywood film to use the war as its backdrop. The film was directed by Terence Young, and starred an elderly Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur. According to press materials from the film, psychics hired by Moon's church contacted MacArthur in heaven and secured his posthumous approval of the casting.

Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004). When two Korean brothers are drafted into the military to fight in the war, the older brother tries to protect the younger by risking his own life in hopes of sending his brother home. This results in an emotional conflict that wears away at his own humanity. Epic in scope, the movie has a touching family story backdropped by a brutal war. Directed by Je-Kyu Kang or Kang Je-gyu.

Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005). During the height of the Korean War, three North Korean soldiers, two South Korean soldiers and an American Navy pilot accidentally get stranded together in a remote and peaceful mountain village paradise called Dongmakgol. All three wayward factions learn that the village is naively oblivious to the raging war outside. These newcomers must somehow find a way to coexist with each other for the sake and preservation of the village they all learn to love and respect. Directed by Park, Gwang-hyeon.

Joint Security Area (film) (Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA) (2000). In the DMZ (Korean Demilitarized Zone) separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. The investigating Swiss/Swedish team from the neutral countries overseeing the DMZ (Korean Demilitarized Zone) suspects from evidence at the crime scene that another, unknown party was involved. Major Sophie E. Jean, the investingating officer, suspects a cover-up is taking place, but the truth is much simpler and much more tragic. It unravels as the story follows the development of a relationship between two North Korean and two South Korean soldiers that hang out together in an empty building in the Joint Security Area. Starring Lee Young Ae, Lee Byung-Hun, Song Kang-ho, Tae-woo Kim, and Shin Ha-kyun. Directed by Park Chan-wook.

Names

The name 'Korean War' is the English language name for the war. In South Korea, the war is called the "June 25th Incident" (육이오 사변; 六二五事變), although some use the term "한국전쟁" (韓國戰爭), which means Korean War. In North Korea, the war is called the "Fatherland Liberation War" (조국해방전쟁; 祖國解放戰爭). In China the war is called 抗美援朝 (kàng měi yuán cháo), which can be translated to "The War To Resist America And Aid (North) Korea", or the more politically correct "War of Chosun" 朝鲜战争/朝鮮戰爭. Another common term for the Korean War in Chinese-Speaking communities is 韩战/韓戰, which is an abbreviation of Korean War.