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The Korean War, also known as the Fatherland Liberation War (조국해방전쟁) in the DPRK, was a severely devastating armed conflict which broke out between Korea and Imperialist invaders. Although an armistice ceased armed conflict, the war is not officially over to the present day. The former was supported by her sister socialist nations, the USSR and the People's Republic of China. The latter was led by the United Nations, which was then controlled and manipulated by the United States since the USSR was absent boycotting the United Nations due to the non-admission of PRC.
Events
Background
The Soviets had agreed to an impromptu proposal from the American side that Korea should be divided along the 38th parallel for the purpose of acceptation of military surrender. The persistence of this divide in the Korean peninsula had been the result of a class conflict which broke out following the departure of the occupying Japanese colonial forces and differing occupation regimes. A revolutionary tide was sweeping the peninsula with People's Committees being formed and a united Korean People's Republic had been formed, constituting a heavy socialist presence much to the anguish of the then-temporary American Occupation forces.
The Syngman Rhee regime in the south. was marked by mass repressions against the revolutionary movements and political activity generally. He abolished the press and liquidated left-wing political opposition. Rhee claimed that South Korea's army would be able to take the northern capital of Pyongyang in three days.[1] There was a lot of migration between the two occupation zones: political refugees went to the north, the dispossessed classes of landlords and merchants who supported the Japanese occupation fled to the south.
Invasion
South Korea invaded the DPRK on June 25, 1950.[1] Years later, Rhee stated that the purpose of the war was to destroy communism.
Entry of People's China
International involvement/reactions
United Nations
At the time the Soviet Union was boycotting the Security Council due to the dispute over the Chinese seat in the UN going to the representatives of the Kuomintang regime in Taiwan, effectively disenfranchising the Chinese. While American influence already dominated the UN vis-a-vis the Marshall Plan, taking advantage of Soviet absence the US hijacked the United Nations Security Council for its own designs upon Korea.
United States
USSR
The Soviet Union provided MIG fighter planes to depend the DPRK, which were flown by Chinese, Soviet, and Korean pilots. They were limited in number to avoid too much direct conflict with the United States, which could have caused a larger war.[2]
People's Republic of China
The Chinese People's Volunteers fought alongside the Korean People's Army. After the war, they helped the DPRK rebuild its infrastructure.
Non-Aligned Nations
The delegates of India and Egypt both initially voted in favour of the UN resolution declaring DPRK aggressor. Though the Egyptian delegate, Mahmoud Fawzi Bey, reverted to abstention. However, the Indian delegation went on to endorse even the second resolution which sanctioned the use of armed force against the DPRK, under American pressure. This achieved in deceiving the opinions of several Asian people that DPRK was indeed the aggressor here. These acts undertaken without sufficient inquiry are termed by historian Karunakar Gupta as "not consistent with its professed policy of its non-alignment." [1]
Impact and Legacy
Although DPRK survived and claimed victory against U.S. forces, the war had been very disastrous. 635,000 tons of bombs and 32,557 tons of napalm were used by the United States.[3] More than 8,700 factories were destroyed and 90,000 hectares of farmland had been spoilt.[2] Even biowarfare was said to have been used against communist forces in the form of infected fleas.[4] Massive civilian losses were incurred—approximately 4 million have been estimated. The strategic bombing operations against civilian populations is laid bare by the following words of General Curtis LeMay:
There are no innocent civilians. It is their government and you are fighting a people, you are not trying to fight an armed force anymore. So it doesn't bother me so much to be killing the so-called innocent bystanders.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ernie Trory. "The Invasion of North Korea" New Worker. Archived from the original on 2022-03-05.
- ↑ Xiaoming Zhang (2002). Red Wings over the Yalu: China, the Soviet Union, and the Air War in Korea. Texas A&M University Press.
- ↑ Rosemary Foot (1990). A Substitute for Victory: The Politics of Peacemaking at the Korean Armistice Talks (pp. 207–208). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
- ↑ Andrea Andreen, et al. (1952). Report of the International Scientific Commission for the Investigation of Facts Concerning Biological Warfare in Korea and China. Beijing.
- ↑ Sherry, Michael (September 10, 1989). The Rise of American Air Power: The Creation of Armageddon, p. 287 (from "LeMay's interview with Sherry," interview "after the war," p. 408 n. 108). Yale University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0300044140.