Korean War

For other conflicts and wars involving Korea, see List of Korean battles. For the conflict from 1945 to the present, see Korean conflict.

Korean War
Part of the Cold War and the Korean conflict
Clockwise from top left:
Date25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953[b]
(3 years, 1 month and 2 days)
Location
Korean Peninsula, Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan, Korea Strait, China–North Korea border
Result Inconclusive
Territorial
changes

Korean Demilitarized Zone established

  • North Korea gains the city of Kaesong, but loses a net total of 3,900 km2 (1,506 sq mi), including the city of Sokcho, to South Korea[2]
Belligerents
 South Korea North Korea
United Nations[a]
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Peak strength
(combat troops):
Total strength[14][15]
(combat troops):
  • United States 1,789,000[12]
  • South Korea 1,300,000[13]
  • United Kingdom 56,000
  • Canada 26,791
  • Turkey 21,212
  • Australia 17,164
  • History of the Philippines (1946–1965) 7,420
  • Thailand 6,326
  • Netherlands 5,322
  • Colombia 5,100
  • Kingdom of Greece 4,992
  • New Zealand 3,794
  • Ethiopian Empire 3,518
  • Belgium 3,498
  • French Fourth Republic 3,421
  • Union of South Africa 826
  • Luxembourg 110
    Medical support and others:
  • Sweden 1,124
  • Denmark 630
  • India 627
  • Norway 623
  • Italy 189
  • Japan 120
    Together: 3,257,797
Peak strength
(combat troops):

Together: 1,742,000

Total:
China 2,970,000[20]
Soviet Union 72,000[19]
Together: 3,042,000
Casualties and losses
  • Total civilian deaths: 2–3 million (est.)[21][22]
  • South Koreans:
    990,968 total casualties[8]
  • North Koreans:
    1,550,000 total casualties (est.)[8]

The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, while South Korea was supported by the United Nations Command (UNC) led by the United States.[c] The conflict was thus the first major proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. Fighting ended in 1953 with an armistice but no peace treaty, leading to the ongoing Korean conflict characterized by phases of diplomacy and confrontation.

After the end of World War II in 1945, Korea, which had been a Japanese colony for 35 years, was divided by the Soviet Union and the US into two occupation zones[d] at the 38th parallel, with plans for a future independent state. Due to political disagreements and influence from their backers, the zones formed their own governments in 1948. The DPRK was led by Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, and the ROK by Syngman Rhee in Seoul; both claimed to be the sole legitimate government of all of Korea and engaged in border clashes as internal unrest was fomented by communist groups in the south. On 25 June 1950, the Korean People's Army (KPA), equipped and trained by the Soviets, launched an invasion of the south. In the absence of the Soviet Union's representative,[c] the UN Security Council denounced the attack and recommended member states to repel the invasion.[24] UN forces comprised 21 countries, with the US providing around 90% of military personnel.[25][26]

Seoul was captured on 28 June, and by early August, the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) and its allies were nearly defeated, holding onto only the Pusan Perimeter in the peninsula's southeast. On 15 September, UN forces landed at Inchon near Seoul, cutting off KPA troops and supply lines. UN forces broke out from the perimeter on 18 September, re-captured Seoul, and invaded North Korea in October, capturing Pyongyang and advancing towards the Yalu River—the border with China. On 19 October, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) crossed the Yalu and entered the war on the side of the north.[27] UN forces retreated from North Korea in December, following the PVA's first and second offensive. Communist forces captured Seoul again in January 1951 before losing it to a UN counter-offensive two months later. After an abortive Chinese spring offensive, UN forces retook territory roughly up to the 38th parallel. Armistice negotiations began in July 1951, but dragged on as the fighting became a war of attrition and the north suffered heavy damage from U.S. bombing.

Combat ended on 27 July 1953 with the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, which allowed the exchange of prisoners and created a 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) wide Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the frontline, with a Joint Security Area at Panmunjom. The conflict caused more than 1 million military deaths and an estimated 2 to 3 million civilian deaths, a larger proportion of civilian deaths than in World War II or the Vietnam War. Alleged war crimes include the mass killing of suspected communists by Seoul and the torture and starvation of prisoners of war by Pyongyang. North Korea became one of the most heavily bombed countries in history,[28] and virtually all of Korea's major cities were destroyed.[29] No peace treaty has been signed, making the war a frozen conflict.[30][31]

  1. ^ Kim, Heesu (1996). Anglo-American Relations and the Attempts to Settle the Korean Question 1953–1960 (PDF) (Thesis). London School of Economics and Political Science. p. 213. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  2. ^ Birtle, Andrew J. (2000). The Korean War: Years of Stalemate. U.S. Army Center of Military History. p. 34. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  3. ^ Millett, Allan Reed, ed. (2001). The Korean War, Volume 3. Korea Institute of Military History. U of Nebraska Press. p. 692. ISBN 978-0803277960. Retrieved 16 February 2013. Total Strength 602,902 troops
  4. ^
  5. ^ a b c d e f g USFK Public Affairs Office. "USFK United Nations Command". United States Forces Korea. United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 11 July 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016. Republic of Korea – 590,911
    Colombia – 1,068
    United States – 302,483
    Belgium – 900
    United Kingdom – 14,198
    South Africa – 826
    Canada – 6,146
    Netherlands – 819
    Turkey – 5,453
    Luxembourg – 44
    Australia – 2,282
    Philippines – 1,496
    New Zealand – 1,385
    Thailand – 1,204[clarification needed]
    Ethiopia – 1,271
    Greece – 1,263
    France – 1,119
  6. ^
    • Rottman, Gordon L. (2002). Korean War Order of Battle: United States, United Nations, and Communist Ground, Naval, and Air Forces, 1950–1953. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 126. ISBN 978-0275978358. Retrieved 16 February 2013. A peak strength of 14,198 British troops was reached in 1952, with over 40,000 total serving in Korea.
    • "UK-Korea Relations". British Embassy Pyongyang. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2013. When war came to Korea in June 1950, Britain was second only to the United States in the contribution it made to the UN effort in Korea. 87,000 British troops took part in the Korean conflict, and over 1,000 British servicemen lost their lives[permanent dead link‍]
    • Jack D. Walker. "A Brief Account of the Korean War". Information. Republic of Korea Ministry of National Defense Institute for Military History. Archived from the original on 19 May 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2013. Other countries to furnish combat troops, with their peak strength, were: United States (302,483), United Kingdom (14,198), Canada (6,146), Turkey (5,455), Australia (2,282), Thailand (2,274), Philippines (1,496), New Zealand (1,389), France (1,185), Colombia (1,068), Ethiopia (1,271), Greece (1,263), Belgium (900), Netherlands (819), Republic of South Africa (826), Luxembourg (44)
  7. ^ "Land of the Morning Calm: Canadians in Korea 1950–1953". Veterans Affairs Canada. Government of Canada. 7 January 2013. Archived from the original on 23 March 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013. Peak Canadian Army strength in Korea was 8,123 all ranks.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cite error: The named reference ROK Web was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c Edwards, Paul M. (2006). Korean War Almanac. Almanacs of American wars. Infobase Publishing. p. 517. ISBN 978-0816074679. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  10. ^ Ramachandran, D. p (19 March 2017). "The doctor-heroes of war". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 January 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2019 – via www.thehindu.com.
  11. ^ Morris-Suzuki, Tessa (29 July 2012). "Post-War Warriors: Japanese Combatants in the Korean War". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 10 (31). Archived from the original on 18 May 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  12. ^ Fact Sheet: America's Wars". Archived 27 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Washington D.C., May 2017.
  13. ^ "19만7056명 첫 全數조사 "젊은사람들 내 뒤에서 '얼마나 죽였길래' 수군수군 이젠 훈장 안 달고 다녀…세상이 야속하고 나 스스로 비참할 뿐"". Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  14. ^ The Statistics of the Korean War - ROK Ministry of National Defense Institute for Military History, 2014 (E-BOOK) Archived 9 July 2023 at the Wayback Machine (in Korean)
  15. ^ The Statistics of the Korean War - ROK Ministry of National Defense Institute for Military History, 2014 (PDF) Archived 11 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine (in Korean)
  16. ^ Shrader, Charles R. (1995). Communist Logistics in the Korean War. Issue 160 of Contributions in Military Studies. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 90. ISBN 978-0313295096. Retrieved 17 February 2013. NKPA strength peaked in October 1952 at 266,600 men in eighteen divisions and six independent brigades.
  17. ^ Zhang 1995, p. 257.
  18. ^ Xiaobing, Li (2009). A History of the Modern Chinese Army Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. p. 105: "By December 1952, the Chinese forces in Korea had reached a record high of 1.45 million men, including fifty-nine infantry divisions, ten artillery divisions, five antiaircraft divisions, and seven tank regiments. CPVF numbers remained stable until the armistice agreement was signed in July 1953."
  19. ^ a b Kolb, Richard K. (1999). "In Korea we whipped the Russian Air Force". VFW Magazine. 86 (11). Retrieved 17 February 2013. Soviet involvement in the Korean War was on a large scale. During the war, 72,000 Soviet troops (among them 5,000 pilots) served along the Yalu River in Manchuria. At least 12 air divisions rotated through. A peak strength of 26,000 men was reached in 1952.[permanent dead link‍]
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference xu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cumings p. 35 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lewy pp. 450-453 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ White, James D. (31 July 1950). "Soviet Union Ending Boycott of United Nation [sic] Because War in Korea Getting Bit Too Hot". Walla Walla Union-Bulletin/Associated Press. No. 106. Walla Walla, Washington. p. 9 – via NewspaperArchive.
  24. ^ Derek W. Bowett, United Nations Forces: A Legal Study of United Nations Practice, Stevens, London, 1964, pp. 29–60
  25. ^ Pembroke, Michael (2018). Korea: Where the American Century Began. Hardie Grant Books. p. 141.
  26. ^ "United Nations Command > History > 1950–1953: Korean War (Active Conflict)". www.unc.mil. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference Devine 2007 819-821 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Fisher, Max (3 August 2015). "Americans have forgotten what we did to North Korea". Vox. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  29. ^ Robinson, Michael E (2007). Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press. pp. 119-120. ISBN 978-0824831745.
  30. ^ He, Kai; Feng, Huiyun (2013). Prospect Theory and Foreign Policy Analysis in the Asia Pacific: Rational Leaders and Risky Behavior. Routledge. p. 50. ISBN 978-1135131197. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017.
  31. ^ Li, Narangoa; Cribb, Robert (2014). Historical Atlas of Northeast Asia, 1590–2010: Korea, Manchuria, Mongolia, Eastern Siberia. Columbia University Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0231160704. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017.


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