What Started the Korean War?
It’s a sad fact that the end of one war can inevitably lead to the next war. The problem is often the way the winners “divide the spoils” of war. We saw this when the Treaty of Versailles, negotiated at the end of World War I, created desperate conditions in Germany that led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the start of World War II.
Then, in 1945, as part of the negotiations that ended WWII, the capitalist world and the communist world divided Germany into East and West Germany. Korea was divided at the 38th parallel. This was supposed to be temporary, but it created two hostile states, one based on capitalism and the other on communism.
This arrangement was supposed to be a temporary division during which both sides would oversee the withdrawal of Japanese forces from the peninsula. Japan had occupied the Korean Peninsula for 35 years, and Japan allied itself with Germany in WWII.
South Korea held United Nations-sponsored elections, but the UN could not come up with an agreement acceptable to the Soviets, so no such elections were held in North Korea. With the onset of the Cold War, as the USA and the USSR fought, not with weapons, but with economic competition, this division of the “two Koreas” became permanent.
A Bad Decision
War-weary and tired of providing expensive military support to South Korea, the US pulled its military assets out of the Korean Peninsula in 1949. That turned out to be an expensive mistake.
On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. The USA and the UN committed troops two days later. The first US ground forces (about 400 soldiers) landed in Busan, South Korea, on July 1, 1950. Note that while historical accounts mention the “Pusan perimeter,” this area is now called Busan.
By late July, there were roughly 108,500 U.S. personnel in the Far East Command. The total number of US military members serving in the Armed Forces during the Korean War reached 1,789,000.
A Multi-Nation Effort
Twenty-one United Nations members sent troops to fight in the Korean War. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Turkey, Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand, South Africa, Greece, Belgium, Netherlands, Colombia, Luxembourg, and Ethiopia provided combat personnel. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, India, and Italy provided hospital staff.
The Goal Post Moves… So Does China…
The initial objective was to restore South Korean sovereignty back to the 1945 borders, and this was achieved. But South Korean President Syngman Rhee was already sending troops north of the 38th Parallel. US General Douglas MacArthur was all for this. He pressured the US to go along with that idea. Soon after, UN forces were streaming north above the original border.
When China sent troops to fight on the side of North Korea, the UN was pushed south again, and the front eventually stabilized. Then the UN objective became to bring about an end to the war. The military goals then became simply to hold the line and occasionally make small offensive/counteroffensive actions to gain key ground and encourage the communists to cooperate at the peace table at Panmunjom.
Peace Talks Began Soon After the War Started
Panmunjom is famous for being the location of the peace talks. But the talks actually began at Kaesong, North Korea, on July 10, 1951. Not long after the talks started, the North began dangerous activity and imposed limitations on the UN negotiators. The North Koreans conducted military actions and bombing raids near the site of the peace talks. They also dictated that no Western news media would be allowed to attend, but communist media were continuously spewing out propaganda, so the early talks were boycotted by the South.
Eventually, peace talks resumed in Panmunjom, which was closer to the 38th parallel, the original border between North and South Korea.
The final armistice was signed on July 27, 1953.
POWs Felt the Ups & Downs of the Peace Talk Process
You’ll see in Prisoner of War, North Korea 1951 – 1953, that prisoners in North Korean camps noticed the behavior of their captors change when talks were going well. The North Koreans and Chinese knew they were losing the war, and worried that they could be accused of war crimes. So “nicer” behavior from them became a sign to the prisoners that peace and freedom might be coming. In fact, the North Korean captors gave this policy an official name: the Lenient Treatment Policy.
But peace talks are rocky in every war. Can you imagine the disappointment when these hopes were repeatedly dashed?