2. the korean war

KoreaKorea

* Japan had ruled Korea from 1910-1945.

* During World War II, Japanese troops in Korea surrendered to the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

* The Allies divided Korea into two zones at the 38th parallel.* North Korea – Pro-communist

Japanese soldiers surrendering to Soviet forces during World War II.

* South Korea – Non-communist…desired free elections

* In 1949, both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. withdrew from Korea.

* Eager to reunite the country, North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950.

Soviet-made North Korean tank in Seoul, South Korea on June 29, 1950. Four days after the invasion.

The well equipped North Korean army fires artillery rounds on South Korean military positions.

“What the Communists, the North Koreans, were doing was nothing new… Hitler and Mussolini and the Japanese were doing exactly the same thing in the 1930s… Nobody had stood up to them. And that is what led to the Second World War.”

~President Truman

* The UN forces consisted of 16 nations and 520,000 troops.* 90% were American* There were 590,000 South Korean

troops* Commanded by U.S. General Douglas

MacArthur

* President Truman ordered Naval and Air support for South Korea.

* The UN adopted a resolution to help South Korea. * With the power to veto, the

U.S.S.R. was not present because the UN had refused to admit China.

* After 2 months of fighting, the North Koreans had driven the UN and South Korean forces into a small corner of the peninsula called Pusan.

General MacArthur watches the Inchon Invasion.

* MacArthur launched an amphibious counter-offensive at Inchon catching the North off-guard.

* The goal: cutoff supply-lines and sandwich enemy troops.

* The result: the pressure on Pusan was relieved.

* North Korean forces were on the run, and driven North of the 38th Parallel.

U.S. Marines debarking a landing craft during the invasion of Inchon.

“Organized resistance will be terminated by Thanksgiving. They are thoroughly whipped.”

~General MacArthur

These U.S. troops reached the Chinese border ,at Yalu-Jiang, in December 1950 and planted the

American flag in the ice of the frozen Yalu River.

* China had warned UN forces that they must stop at the 38th Parallel.

* When UN forces pushed the North almost to the Yalu River, 300,000 Chinese troops swarmed across the border.

* UN forces were pushed back south of the 38th Parallel and Seoul was again in the hands of communists.

A grieving U.S. soldier is comforted by a comrade.

This Chinese propaganda states: “The Korean People’s Army and the Chinese People’s Volunteer

Army, victorious forever!”

* To end the war in Korea and eliminate further Chinese involvement, he proposed: 1. Blockading China’s coast2. Using atomic weapons on China

* Afraid of starting World War III, President Truman rejected the requests.

*Instead of attacking China, U.S. forces pushed North Korean forces back across the 38th Parallel.

U.S. infantryman rests on a Chinese Communist bunker with a Soviet light machine gun.

* MacArthur desired total victory in Korea while Truman desired a truce.

* MacArthur wrote a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives upset about his bosses limited-war strategy.

* Truman relieved MacArthur of his command.

President Truman meeting with General MacArthur.

* From 1951 to 1953, the fighting continued but very little land was exchanged.

The Korean war marked the first war that units were desegregated. In this image, a machinegun crew have a fortified position on the side of a hill.

“The first task of a new Administration will be to review and re-examine every course of action open to us with one goal in view: To bring the Korean war to an early and honorable end. This is my pledge to the American people.”

~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

* In 1954, after 2 years of negotiations, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire.

* The terms: 1.End of fighting 2.Exchange of Prisoners of War 3.A demilitarized zone of 2.4 miles along the 38th Parallel.

* U.S. deaths: 36,516 (including 2,830 non-combat deaths)

* Cost between more than $20 billion

* Increased the fear of communist aggression.

* Communism was contained without another world war, and without the use of an atomic bomb.

* Korea was still divided.

The Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C.

With 1,106,000 military personnel, North Korea has the fourth largest army in the

world.

Military service of up to 10 years is mandatory for most males.

As United States Forces Korea, 28,500 U.S. soldiers are on

active duty in Korea.

The DMZ is 160 miles long, approximately 2.5 mile wide. It is the most heavily militarized border in the world.

Crossing at the 38th Parallel, the DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula

roughly in half.

On May 25, 2009, the North Koreans conducted a nuclear weapons test that was

as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb.