The Korean War: The conflict that killed thousands, and destroyed the lives of even more. The conflict that set the tone for the Cold War, and the one that allowed the two world powers, the US and USSR, to have strife that lasted decades, but ultimately prevented a nuclear war, because it demonstrated how they could spread their influence through proxy wars. The Korean War can be considered a prime example of the friction between the communist and capitalist powers, and it's extremely destructive power.
BACKGROUND
The kingdoms of Baekje, Silla and Goryeo, collectively referred to as the Three Kingdoms of Korea, are said to have lasted from 57 BC to 668 AD, occupying the entirety of the Korean Peninsula and around half of Manchuria. Baekje and Silla occupied the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and present day Jeju Island, while Goryeo dominated in the northern part of the Peninsula and Manchuria. In the seventh century, Silla, allied with the Chinese Tang Dynasty, uniting Korea for the first time in its history, following which the Tang Dynasty established a short military rule. However, Silla ended up expelling the protectorate armies as a result of the Silla-Tang War(around 670 - 676 AD).The period that followed is known as Unified/Later Silla.
The Joseon Dynasty was a dynastic kingdom following Unified Silla, that lasted for approximately 500 years. It was founded in July 1392 by Yi Seong-gye and was replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. During its reign, Joseon encouraged Confucian ideals and doctrines in Korean society, and established Neo-Confucianism as its state ideology, essentially maintaining itself as a vassal state of the Chinese Qing dynasty. It left behind a huge legacy for Korea. Most Korean customs and traditions came from this period.
In October 1897, Emperor Gojong of the Joseon dynasty established the Korean Empire, declaring complete independence from the Qings’ sphere of influence. By the Treaty of Shimonoseki, also known as the Treaty of Bakan, was signed at Shimonoseki on 17th April 1895 between the Japanese Empire and the Qing Dynasty, ending the first First Sino-Japanese War, as a result of which China recognised the sovereignty and independence of the Korean Empire.
DID YOU KNOW?
In addition to recognizing the independence of the Korean Empire, as a result of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the Qing dynasty also had to:
Cede to Japan in perpetuity and full sovereignty of the Pescadores group, Formosa (Taiwan) and the eastern portion of the bay of Liaodong Peninsula (Dalian) together with all fortifications, arsenals and public property.
Pay to Japan as a war indemnity the sum of 200,000,000 Kuping taels ( 7,500,000 kilograms or 16,534,500 pounds of silver).
Open Shashih, Chungking, Soochow and Hangchow to Japan. Moreover, China had to grant Japan most favoured nation status for foreign trade (equal to, but not above, the trade relations granted to the UK, US and France in 1843-44 and Russia in 1858).
In addition, as a result of the Russo-Japanese War, also won by the Japanese, caused a reduction in Russian influence in the region as well. This ultimately resulted in the establishment of the Korean Empire as a Protectorate of Japan, through the Japan-Korea treaty of 1905, and was ruled through the Resident General of Korea.
As a result of the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910, Korea was formally annexed to the Japanese Empire, albeit without the consent of Gojong, regent of Emperor Sunjong. Korea was thus established as a colony of Japan administered by the General Government based in Keijo, that governed the colony with near absolute power.
Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the surrender of the Japanese Empire, American forces under the command of John R. Hodge stationed themselves in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula while the Soviet Army and Korean communists occupied the north. A proposal was made at an emergency meeting to determine postwar spheres of influence, which led to the division of Korea at the 38th parallel. This created a Soviet controlled, communist North Korea, under the rule of Kim Il Sung, and a US controlled, capitalist South Korea, under Syngman Rhee. Both governments claimed to be the sole government of Korea, and neither considered the border permanent.
At the time, China was facing a civil war between the nationalists, who were exiled to Taiwan, and the communists. North Korea participated in the war in support of the communists, providing them with supplies and refuge. In return, the People’s Republic of China stayed loyal to the North Korean regime and promised that it would provide support in the event of a war against South Korea.
Communist guerillas in South Korea weakened its military strength. Convinced of his superiority in terms of manpower and artillery, Kim Il-Sung, the leader of North Korea, travelled to Moscow in order to convince Stalin to back him in the North Korean invasion into the south. Having assessed the situation, in April 1950, he approved Kim Il-Sung's plan on one condition - the USSR would not engage in direct conflict. The actual invasion was only approved after Stalin ensured that Mao Zedong’s armies would be able to back the North Korean Forces if required.
COURSE OF THE WAR
Confident in their superior military strength, and strengthened by the backing of the Soviets and the Chinese, on 25th July 1950, a large artillery barrage and around 100,000 soldiers of the Korean People’s Army(KPA) entered the Republic of Korea, marking the beginning of a three year long conflict, that would destroy millions of lives, and result in the division of a country, like so many others, because of the communist and capitalist spheres of influence it faced.
On June 27th, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 83, which enabled member states to provide military assistance to South Korea. Rather than veto the Resolution, the Soviet Union boycotted the proceedings, as the nationalist government still occupied China’s seat on the council, rather than the People’s Republic of China, even though it had driven the nationalist government out of the mainland. Seoul fell on the next day.
Over the next 3 months, thousands of reinforcements arrived to support South Korea from all over the world. However, the continuous and relentless onslaught of the KPA ultimately resulted in the confinement of the South Korean forces in a 5000 mile perimeter centered on the southeastern post of Pusan, called the Pusan Perimeter. The KPA was not without losses. By the time they reached the Pusan Perimeter in September, their forces had been cut in half, and they were left with almost no armor.
On September 15th, the X Corps, led by US Major General Edward M. Almond, staged an ambitious landing at Incheon, around 150 miles into enemy territory. Conceived by UN Commander Douglas MacArthur, the plan was an amazing success. It led to the liberation of Seoul, just 10 days later.
Post the Incheon Invasion, having destroyed a large bulk of the Korean army, UN forces pressed into North Korea, and, by October 25th, were fast approaching the Yalu River. However, their advance was interrupted by the Chinese People’s Volunteers Force (CPVF), led by General Peng Dehuai, which inflicted serious losses on the UN forces. The sudden appearance of the Chinese forces caused the main body to be sent back to the southern bank of the Chongchon River.
In December, U.S. Marines stationed at Chosin Reservoir began a different approach as they fought a fighting retreat towards Hungnam port. Two entire Chinese armies had been tasked with destroying the 1st Marine Division. While the Chinese forces succeeded in driving out the Americans from North Korean territory, they suffered immense losses. Over 80,000 Chinese troops were wounded or killed, and the CPVF was rendered combat ineffective for several months. This event, nicknamed Frozen Chosin, has become one of the most popular events in Marine history.
This victory, however, was ambiguous and short-lived. In less than a month’s time, Seoul was recaptured. Just over a month later, Seoul changed hands yet again, for the fourth time in fact, when UN forces were successful in liberating the city. Seoul suffered horribly throughout the war, having lost a huge amount of its original population.
On April 11th, 1951, President Truman relieved MacArthur of his duties, despite his monumental success in the Incheon Invasion and the Korean War in general.
On April 25th, hugely outnumbered UN forces checked the Chinese advance on Seoul in the Battle of Kapyong and the Battle of Imjin River. The 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, two Commonwealth Divisions, rebuffed an entire Chinese division at Kapyong, and 4,000 men of the British 29th Brigade staged a successful delay against roughly 30,000 troops of the Chinese 63rd Army at the Imjin River. Around 650 men of the Gloucestershire Regiment (or the “Glorious Glosters”), engaged in a vicious stand against over 10,000 Chinese infantry troops at Imjin. Although the overwhelming majority of the Glosters were killed or captured, their sacrifice allowed UN forces to consolidate their lines around the South Korean capital.
Truce talks began on July 10th at Kaesong, which relocated to Panmunjom in October. However, they did not mark an end to the war. Fighting continues for 2 more years, claiming thousands of lives on both sides.
Over 2 years later, on July 27th 1953, an armistice was signed, with Mark Clark for the UN Command, Peng Dehuai for the Chinese and Kim Il-Sung for the North Koreans. While Syngman Rhee, president of South Korea, announced his acceptance of the agreement, no South Korean official ever signed it. Through this agreement, a demilitarised zone was created around the 38th Parallel, along the pre war border. With the signing of this agreement, the Korean War, having claimed thousands of lives and destroyed even more, finally came to an end.
AFTERMATH
KOREAN PENINSULA
Post-war recovery was very different in the two newly established countries on the Korean Peninsula.
SOUTH KOREA(REPUBLIC OF KOREA)
South Korea was dormant in the first decade after the war. It signed the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States, through which both countries made the promise of providing aid in case of an external armed attack and allowed US troops to be stationed in South Korea, with its consultation. Elections to the legislature were conducted in March 1960. Earlier, however, Syngman Rhee had the parliament pass a law that exempted him from the two-term limit, thereby allowing him to contest elections again. The April Revolution began in the following month, due to anger over the rigged elections and the exemption, where students joined several anti-Syngman Rhee rallies. The police responded violently, killing 142 people and injuring several others. As a consequence, Rhee resigned and fled to the US to live the rest of his life in exile.
Once Rhee was removed from power, a new constitution was formulated and the Second Republic was established. Elections were conducted to the newly formulated lower house of the National Assembly. The Democratic Party experienced victory in a landslide, with Rhee’s Liberal Party being reduced to just 2 seats.
Unfortunately, the Second Republic was constantly riddled with problems from its establishment, with bitter factionalism among the ruling party competing with popular unrest for the government’s attention. The economy was in shambles, deteriorating under high prices and rising rates of inflation and unemployment. Crime rates doubled. The price of the staple food of the Korean people, rice, rose by 60% from December 1960 to April 1961. This resulted in widespread food shortages. The political crisis was only worsened by factionalism in the military, occurring due to regional differences or those due to rank.
All of these factors served to increase unrest among the people of South Korea and amongst the military, which was one of the largest in the world at the time. This ultimately resulted in the May 16th Coup of 1961, organised and carried out by Park Chung-Hee of the Military Revolutionary Committee. It rendered the democratically elected National Assembly powerless, abolished the Second Republic, and established the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which was effectively led by Park, once General Chang, leader of the Revolutionary Committee, was arrested in July. This coup was instrumental in bringing about industrialisation in South Korea, but remains controversial, due to its suppression of civil liberties and democratic rights.
From 1965 to 1973, South Korea sent troops to South Vietnam and received over $235,560,000 in military procurement and and allowance from the United States. This war proved to be extremely profitable for South Korea, as evidenced by the quintuple growth of GNP(Gross National Product) during this period. It had one of the world’s fastest growing economy from the 1960s to the 1990s. In 1957, its economy was ranked below Ghana. By 2010, it had become a developed country and ranked 13th in the world.
NORTH KOREA (DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA)
North Korea had essentially been destroyed as an industrial society by the end of the War due to extensive bombing by the United States Air Force. Following the war, Kim Il Sung requested industrial and economic aid from the Soviet Union. In September 1953, they obliged, cancelling all outstanding debts and providing one billion roubles of monetary aid, industrial support and consumer goods. China nullified all of North Korea’s war debts, provided 800 million yuan as monetary aid, and sent in hundreds of troops to rebuild infrastructure. Other members of the Communist bloc provided industrial aid, technical assistance and medical supplies. Yet, modern-day North Korea remains unmodernised. As a matter of fact, the census of 1990 recorded that between 240,000 to 420,000 people died during the North Korean Famine of 1994-98, also called the Arduous March or the March of Suffering, due to a mass economic crisis. An anthropogenic study by North Koreans who had defected to South Korea found that they were 13cm shorter than their South Korean brethren of the same age due to malnutrition!
WORLDWIDE IMPACT
The Korean War set the tone for all future Cold War conflicts, as it showed the two superpowers at the time - the USSR and the US - that they could compete and establish their influence without engaging in direct conflict with each other, through “proxy wars” without having to waste all their resources in the process. These kinds of conflicts were seen in the Vietnam War, the Soviet-Afghan War, Wars in the Middle East, and in conflicts in Angola and Greece.
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However, this conflict was also historic for the United Nations, as it was the first one outside the Westen World where it had participated, showing its effectiveness as a universal peacekeeping body. The UN Command in South Korea is active even today.
CAUSES OF THE WAR
If we go as far back as possible, one cause could simply be the fact that the Korean peninsula is rather small, and surrounded by much larger areas. Korea is a small peninsula surrounded by China, Russia, and Japan. Owing to this, Koreans have often had trouble keeping everyone away and have fallen under control of neighboring empires a number of times. As a matter of fact, they were controlled by China on and off for over 1000 years.
If we wish to look at something more closely related to the war, however, we should look specifically at Japan and Korea. In 1904, the Japanese took over Korea, as many countries had done previously. They ruled over the Peninsula until the end of the Second World War. In the West, countries were at war with Germany, against Adolf Hitler’s Nazist regime. However, we need to keep in mind there was a war in the East as well, against the Japanese Empire.
The Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, and the United States made a deal with each other to force the Japanese out of Korea. Together, they succeeded in doing so. However, as part of this agreement, the Soviet Union would maintain the northern half of Korea after the war, and the United States would control the southern half. The dividing line was the 38th parallel.
After two years, both countries pulled out of Korea, leaving the newly formed governments on their own. In North Korea, where the Soviets had reigned, a communist government was left behind. The United States left behind a democracy.
And this is where the problem primarily began, because the two separate governments were left behind, with completely separate ideologies, each of which wished to unify all of Korea again under their own form of government. North Korea formed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Kim Il Sung was named its leader. In South Korea, Syngman Rhee became president. North Korea wished to unify Korea under communist rule, while South Korea wished to bring democracy to the entirety of the Peninsula.
As tensions arose, the two sides became more aggressive. The United States pulled out from South Korea, dropping from 40,000 troops to approximately 500 troops. They also limited the number of weapons given to South Korea in the fear that Syngman Rhee would lead an attack on North Korea. A second reason for limiting weapons was a new policy of the United States concerning Asia.
The Soviets had developed a nuclear bomb by 1949. The communists in China and the Soviet Union were quite powerful. The United States felt the best way to aid the area would be non-military in hopes of avoiding further wars. It decided that it would defend Japan, The Rykus Islands, and the Philippine Islands if attacked by communists, but not South Korea.
Unfortunately, North Korea had plans of their own. When Secretary of State Dean Acheson said Korea would not be included in the new defense policy, this further motivated North Korea into an attack.
CONCERNS OF THE NORTH KOREAN INVASION
With North Korea's invasion of South Korea, the United States feared the spread of communism. Determined to stop North Korea, the United States sought permission from the United Nations to support the South Korean government and military. The United Nations granted permission to the United States to send troops to the Korean Peninsula to free South Korea from North Korea's military occupation. Although many of the soldiers sent to South Korea were members of the United States military, they were under the direct control of the United Nations. Due to this and owing to the fact that the United States never formally declared war on North Korea, many contend that the Korean War should be called the Korean Conflict rather than be referred to as a war. Technically speaking, these people are right. from the American perspective. However, North and South Korea were clearly engaged in a war. The American troops, as well as those from other countries, were hoping to protect South Korea from communism and thus were participating in the Korean War.
With the arrival of United Nations forces in South Korea with the Incheon Invasion, the tide of the war quickly turned against the North Koreans. The United Nations forces and the South Koreans quickly drove the North Koreans back into North Korea. The South Koreans and United Nations forces did not simply stop with the North Koreans' withdrawal from South Korea. These forces continued to attack the North Korean military, hoping to free North Korea from communist control as well. By October 1950, the United Nations troops had driven North Korean forces to the border of China. Fearful that the UN soldiers intended to invade China, another communist nation, Chinese military forces crossed the Chinese-North Korean border and launched an attack against the United Nations troops. By early 1951, the Chinese had driven the United Nations troops to the 38th parallel, roughly the original border between North Korea and South Korea. For the next two years a virtual stalemate existed around the 38th parallel. While both sides launched numerous attacks against the other, neither side succeeded at dislodging its opponent. On July 27, 1953, both sides agreed to a ceasefire, essentially bringing the Korean War to an end. South Korea remained free from communism, and the original borders of these two countries remained essentially unchanged from before the conflict.
Most historians claim that the Korean War was a draw, with no clear victor. In essence, that is true. The United States, however, through the United Nations, did succeed in freeing South Korea from communism. At the same time, this victory was costly. Approximately one million South Koreans lost their lives in this conflict. A slightly larger number of North Koreans died, amounting to over eleven percent of the nation's entire population. Almost thirty-four thousand Americans died, and another 100,000 soldiers suffered non-fatal wounds. At the end of the Korean War, more than eight thousand Americans were missing in action.
THE KOREAN REPATRIATION PROBLEM AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
The problems raised by the unwillingness of the masses of the North Korean and Chinese prisoners of war to be repatriated in accord with the rights given them under the 1949 Geneva Convention, present, in a revealing perspective, the test to which the Korean conflict has put positive international law.
Apart from the final solution, which is based on a United Nations resolution grounded in valid international law, the attitude of both sides throughout the Pan Mun Jom negotiations raised quite sharply several questions. Standing out among them was, on the side of the United Nations, the policy question of confidence in, and application of, international law, and the legal question of its dynamic interpretation and adjustment.
More generally and, in part, de lege ferenda, the ideological basis of the war prisoner issue raised a fundamental question of values, and added a new dimension to one of the central foci in the modern development of international law: the rights of individuals, per se and in their relations to the rights of states. Viewed from this standpoint, the prominence of the prisoner-of-war question in the armistice negotiations looks much less incidental or opportunistic than some current commentaries may have made it seem.
AMERICA'S LEGAL PRECEDENT IN THE WAR(A CASE STUDY
The American response to the Korean War was an example of military capability and credibility which created a containment and deterrence strategy for the duration of the Cold War. Our response through the United Nations set a theme for the American use of force to the present day: the attempt to justify the use of force through international law and organization, sometimes by “creative” legal argument.
During World War II President Franklin Roosevelt saw the need for a new organization to provide international order after the failure of the League of Nations. Roosevelt’s basic idea for future peace was this: the key organ would be the Security Council, which would be the means by which the four great powers (he called them the “four policemen”) would maintain peace in the world. This would be vertical authority over other nations, a limitation on their sovereignty and an end to balance of power politics. Roosevelt believed that the political will to cooperate to defeat Germany and Japan could be maintained to produce world order after the war. The four ‘policemen’ - United States, Soviet Union, Britain, and China - plus France would be permanent members on the Security Council. The power to use force by the Security Council over other nations was given in Article 42 of the Charter.
With the North Korean invasion, the United Nations and the United States faced a dilemma: whether or not they would take definite action to defend South Korea or not. The North Korean attack was a clear violation of Article 2(4). Would the United States, unlike its deferential policy after World War I, project its military power to areas peripheral to the Sino-Soviet bloc on mainland Asia to protect a relatively unimportant entity from attack or not.
Indeed, Secretary of State Dean Acheson on a previous occasion had omitted South Korea from a list of entities the United States would defend. The answer was yes for both the United Nations and the United States. President Truman said, unlike the League of Nations, the United Nations must not fail: “It was our idea and in this first big test we just can’t let them down.” On June 27 1950, the Security Council passed Resolution 1511 authorizing the use of force to repel the North Korean attack. The United States chose a leadership role in the world and has continued that role to the present.
What about the Soviet Veto? The Soviet Union was absent from the Security Council when the vote took place. American lawyers argued that being absent was analogous to an abstention, which in past practice was not considered to be a veto. This was a shaky analogy. When the Soviet Union returned to the Security Council to veto the operation, the United States moved the operation to the General Assembly in what was called Uniting for Peace, even though the Charter did not give the General Assembly the power to authorize the use of force. The operation continued. The Soviet Union had lost its veto by some creative legal reasoning of the American lawyers. But, they had the votes, i.e., the political power. We followed the cynic’s Golden Rule: he with the gold (in this case votes) rules. If not good law, we at least had morality on our side; we were defending the victim of an unprovoked, surprise attack.
President Truman said in a Statement the day the Security Council voted: “A return to the rule of force in international affairs would have far-reaching effects. The United States will continue to uphold the rule of law.”
(1) Image Source:
National Geographic https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/file/Conflict__Cooperation_The-Cost-of-Conflict_Infographic_final4.jpg
Authors: Dhruv Advani and Sattwik Dutta
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