(WOLY) The World is Looking at YOU!…

As tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of the March sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, Koreans are commemorating the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The naval disaster in the West Sea that took the lives of 46 South Korean sailors was a stern reminder of the reality that the two Koreas divided along the border bristling with mines, artillery and nearly a million heavily-armed soldiers still remain technically at war.

The fratricidal war, which was the first major armed conflict in the Cold War era, ended in a truce in July 1953. The armistice accord has yet to be replaced by a peace treaty.

After North Korea invaded the South at the predawn of June 25, 1950, 16 countries, including the U.S, the U.K. and Canada, fought for the South under the U.N. banner with five others providing medical support.

According to government data, 137,899 South Korean troops were killed in action while 450,742 were wounded. About 215,000 North Korean soldiers were estimated to have been killed with some 303,000 injured.

More than 2.54 million South and North Korean civilians were killed, wounded or went missing during the war, although estimates vary. The U.S. lost some 36,940 soldiers. About 114,000 Chinese troops were estimated to have been killed.


U.S. soldiers sit atop an M46 Patton tank while South Korean children watch them during the Korean War. This picture, which is displayed at a photo exhibition at Cheong Wa Dae, was taken by American war correspondent John Rich. (Photo is owned by Korean Herald)

Predawn invasion

In the early hours of Sunday, the North with the support of the former Soviet Union and China invaded South Korea across the 38th parallel.

The 38th parallel, which served as the border between the Koreas, was drawn by the U.S. and the Soviet Union to mainly disarm Japanese troops -- which had occupied the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945 -- following the end of World War II.

A communist regime under the leadership of Kim Il-sung was established in the northern half of the peninsula under the supervision of the Soviet Union, while a separate government led by President Syngman Rhee was founded in the South, which the U.S. was in charge of.

Both Rhee and Kim wanted to reunite the peninsula. Both sides had engaged in limited skirmishes along the border throughout 1949 and early 1950.

The Soviet Union and the U.S. withdrew from the peninsula in 1948 and 1949, respectively. The Soviet Union left behind a well-equipped and trained North Korean army, while the ill-equipped South Korean military was left unprepared for the sudden invasion.

Armed with a wide range of weaponry, including 242 T-34 tanks and 176 self-propelled guns mostly from the Soviet Union, North Korean troops crossed the border, catching off guard the South Korean troops, half of whom were on leave over the weekend.

The North initially claimed that it was launching a counterattack in self defense after the South invaded its territory. At the time of invasion, the North Korean army numbered some 191,600, while the number of South Korean military was only some 94,000.


United Nation's Participation

Hours after the North’s premeditated invasion, the U.N. Security Council condemned it, calling on the North to immediately halt the hostilities and withdraw its troops to the 38th parallel.

The Soviet Union, with veto power, had boycotted the council meetings since early 1950, insisting that China, not Taiwan, should be included to the council as a permanent member.

On June 27, the UNSC adopted a resolution recommending its member states provide military assistance to the South. On the same day, U.S. President Harry S. Truman ordered the U.S. military to support the South -- which he was as a crucial place to contain communist expansion.

The U.N. Command was established on July 7, 1950. General Douglas MacArthur was appointed as commander in chief of the U.N. forces in Korea one day later, setting in motion the U.N. military intervention. Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker was heading the Eighth U.S. Army dispatched to the South.

Rhee voluntarily handed over South Korea’s peacetime and wartime operational control to the U.S.-led U.N. command on July 14. The South retrieved the peacetime control in 1994 under former President Kim Young-sam and is scheduled to take back wartime control on April 17.

The U.S. troops were hurriedly sent to the South from their bases in Japan. They and South Korean troops fared badly in the early clashes with the North.


First United States Forces Defeat (Korea)

The first major engagement of the U.S. military in the war was made in a battle in Osan. The 540-strong Task Force Smith, a forward element of the 24th Infantry Division, attacked North Koreans in Osan on July 5. It was sent to delay the advance of North Korean forces while the rest of its division moved into the South.

Their offensive resulted in a serious defeat as the U.S. troops were not sufficiently equipped with weapons capable enough to destroy North Korean tanks. North Koreans progressed southward and the 24th Division was forced to retreat.


Withdraw to Busan



By August, the North Korean forces had pushed back the South Korean and U.S. troops to the vicinity of the southern port city of Busan. By September, the UNC only controlled the perimeter of the city in a line partially defined by the Nakdong River.

In the battle of the Busan perimeter, which took place between August and September, the U.S. military withstood attacks of the North Koreans seeking to capture the city. U.S. garrisons in Japan continued to send soldiers and material to support operations in the city.

While the allied forces were desperately defending the Busan perimeter, MacArthur recommended a surprise amphibious landing in Incheon, which resulted in a decisive victory.

Incheon Landing Operation

The Incheon Landing Operation, which began on Sept. 15, 1950, and ended around Sept. 17, was designed to cut off the North Koreans’ supplies and communications, and trap them between the troops landing in the western port city and the Busan units.

After the successful landing, the allied troops advanced to Seoul. The counteroffensive at the Nakdong River line was also successful. As a result, the troops both from north and south successfully isolated the North Korean troops.

This operation made the allied troops, which had been on the defensive from the beginning of the war, become offensive in their tactics. The allied troops recaptured Seoul on Sept. 28.

On Oct. 1, the U.N. forces repelled the North Korean troops northwards past the 38th parallel and South Korean forces also crossed the border into North Korea. The U.N. troops followed the South Korean troops later with U.N. authorization.

The allied forces captured the North’s capital of Pyongyang on Oct. 19 and advanced towards the Amrok River -- also known as the Yalu River -- running along the North Korean-Chinese border, which apparently unnerved the Chinese.

Chinese Intervention

Chinese troops, which had been secretly massing at the border, began their onslaught on the allied forces on Oct. 25. After the U.N. forces retreated following the Chinese surprise attack, the Chinese troops withdrew into the mountain hideouts.

U.N forces, who interpreted the withdrawal as a show of weakness, continued their advance toward the Yalu River. Chinese forces launched another attack in late November.

After being surrounded by the Chinese forces, U.N. soldiers engaged in a battle near the Changjin Lake, also known as the Chosin Reservoir, between Nov. 27 and Dec. 11. During the battle, U.S. forces suffered heavy casualties under the extremely cold weather. The battle was considered to be one of the most devastating military defeats in American history.

U.N. forces withdrew to form a defensive perimeter around the port city of Heungnam, where a large-scale withdrawal operation was carried out in late December.

Some 100,000 military personnel, roughly 350,000 tons of military material and about 91,000 North Korean civilians were loaded onto a variety of merchant and military transport ships and were moved to ports in the southern U.N.-held territory.

Due to the success of the withdrawal, the U.N. and South Korean forces were able to maintain their combat power and carry on the next phase of their operations.

The U.N. forces retreated below the 38th parallel by the end of December. On Jan. 4, 1951, Chinese and North Korean forces recaptured Seoul. The U.N. forces were forced to retreat.

U.N. morale plunged after Walker was killed in a car accident on Dec. 23.

He was later replaced by Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway, who regrouped his troops for an effective counteroffensive. In March, the revitalized U.N. forces expelled the North Korean and Chinese troops from Seoul with aerial and artillery bombardments.

Due to insubordination and other reasons, MacArthur was sacked by Truman on April 11, 1951, and was succeeded by Ridgway.

The U.N. troops were better able to defend themselves in the relatively open terrain of the South. After a few more months of fighting, the front-line finally stabilized in the area of the 38th parallel.

Armistice Negotiations

Truce talks began on July 10, 1951, and had continued for about two years. Hostilities continued during the talks, which had stalled continuously over issues such as the repatriation of prisoners and the drawing of the armistice line.

Over the course of the talks, the U.N. forces and the communist forces held over 760 rounds of meetings. In January 1953, Dwight Eisenhower, who had been openly critical of the war, succeeded Truman as U.S. president.

On July 27, North Korea, China and the UNC finally signed the ceasefire agreement. South Korean President Rhee refused to endorse the armistice as it would further prolong the division of Korea.

Upon the armistice, the belligerents established the Demilitarized Zone, a four-kilometer-wide strip dividing North and South Korea along the 38th parallel.

South Korea and the U.S. signed a mutual defense treaty to jointly deal with the military tensions on the peninsula on Oct. 1. The pact allows the U.S. forces to be stationed in the South as deterrence against another North Korean invasion. The U.S. maintains 28,500 troops here.

This is the first in a series of articles to mark the 60th anniversary of the 1950-53 Korean War. -- Ed.
(Source: Korean Herald)