The video provided for this assignment, entitled Cold War, Korea, 1949—1953, concept by Ted Turner and narrated by Kenneth Branagh, covered the events of the Korean War and it included real footage and interviews with key players who participated in the event. This war remains a mystery to many people in the United States. Even while it was occurring, it received little news coverage save for major publications such as the New York Times. It was a conflict sandwiched between the momentous World War II and the hyper-charged Vietnam War with its images transmitted nightly to household television sets and consequently spurring a generational divide.
Some might ask why the Korean War matters today. In fact, it matters a great deal. Compared to the more recent Vietnam War, there is no question that the ramifications of the more distant Korean War are felt much more keenly now with the ongoing battle of words between the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, and North Korea’s controversial Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. Given the nuclear weapons developed by North Korea and their increasing ICBM capability, the stakes involved in any decisions could not be higher. To trace the roots of this conflict, one has to revisit the Korean War and examine the forces contributing to it.
In an article written by Madison Park, “Why the Korean War still matters”, the author makes a case that the war never really ended. It left the Korean peninsula divided in 1953. This fierce conflict that raged in the mid-twentieth century killed more than two million Koreans, left another six million Koreans missing, wounded, or homeless, killed 54,000 Americans and 600, 000 Chinese, separated thousands of families, and created the world’s most heavily armed border. It also formed the alliances that exist today.
It is important to remember that the armistice agreement that ended the war in 1953 is a truce and not a peace treaty. In fact, Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea during the war, did not even agree to the armistice (Turner). Consider some of the events that have occurred decades after the conflict. In 2003, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced that it may have “no option” but to stop honoring the armistice because of the United State’s “persistent war moves.” Six years later in 2009, North Korea said its military would no longer be bound by the agreement because South Korea was joining a U.S.-led anti-proliferation plan. In 2013, KCNA declared that come March 11 of that year, North Korean forces will “completely declare invalid” the armistice agreement, because “the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces” have violated it. It mentioned joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises as “an open declaration of a war” and blasted the two countries. According to the KCNA, “What matters is that the South Korean puppet forces steeped in worship and sycophancy toward the U.S. are dancing to its tune.”
Looking back over the last sixty years, relations between North and South has whipsawed from conciliatory to combative. During more amicable times, the two Koreas arranged emotional family reunions for those separated by the war in 2000. Their leaders shook hands in a 2007 Pyongyang summit and ran freight trains across the border. South Korean president Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his efforts for “peace and reconciliation” with North Korea.
However, these periods of good will have been shattered by violence, with incidents such as the 1983 bombing that killed members of the South Korean cabinet visiting Myanmar and another bombing in 1987 that blew up Korean Air Flight 858, killing all aboard. The North Korean rulers have steadfastly denied involvement in these bombings despite evidence that indicates otherwise. There was also the 2010 North Korean bombing of the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong leaving four dead and that same year, North Korean sinking of a South Korean warship, which killed more than 40 sailors.
It is important to mention these historical incidents because one should not get the impression that the hostilities commenced when Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un assumed power. The tension on the Korean peninsula was already there and it is the dynamics between these two volatile and unpredictable leaders that have now accelerated the conflict into a crisis could even involve the world in a nuclear war. In another CNN article, “North Korea: Trump is ‘begging for nuclear war’ ” by Taehoon Lee and Joe Sterling, according to North Korea, Trump is “staging an extremely dangerous nuclear gamble on the Korean peninsula,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a written statement that also calls Trump a “nuclear demon” and a “disruptor of global peace.”
These comments were made days after North Korea test-fired a brand new intercontinental ballistic missile, known as the Hwasong-15, which experts said shows a major advance in technology and threat. This threat now includes the East Coast of the United States as a reachable target. Attempting to keep pace, another joint US-South Korean military drill, which began November 4 and is scheduled to run through November 8, involves approximately 12,000 US military personnel and 230 planes.
More recent developments include United States national security adviser H.R. McMaster, speaking in an interview on Fox News, said it was in the best interest of both China and Russia to help contain Pyongyang, but that the U.S. was prepared to go it alone. Per McMaster, “If necessary, the president and the United States will have to take care of it, because he has said he’s not going to allow this murderous, rogue regime to threaten the United States with the most destructive weapons on the planet.” (Lee and Sterling)
Due to the current red-hot level of tension involving the United States and North Korea, I would recommend that the whole world would benefit from watching the film. It would be particularly useful for students of history, members of any government in the world, or any young people thinking of going into government service to understand the roots of the current Korean crisis and the roles in the war played by China, Russia, Japan, and the United Nations.
The film itself is black and white and contains an impressive amount of actual footage and interviews with 23 subjects representing the different players in the war from military personnel, members of government, and civilians affected by it. It begins by describing the background to the conflict.
For most of the first half of the 20th century, Japan controlled the Korean peninsula as its colony. By the end of World War II, as Japan neared defeat, the allies agreed to an independent Korea. The United States and the Soviet Union divided postwar occupation of Korea along the 38th parallel and the two sides were ideologically opposite. Ruling in the north was the charismatic, handsome Kim Il-Sung, the grandfather of North Korea’s current leader, Kim Jong-un. Kim Il-Sung had trained in Moscow and with his background of resisting Japanese rule in Korea and Manchuria, he was favored by the Soviets.
In the south, a separate election in 1948 brought Syngman Rhee, a U.S.-educated independence advocate who was intensely anti-Communist, as the first president of the Republic of Korea. Both Rhee and Kim wanted to unify the peninsula under their respective governments. Backed by their respective superpower allies, Russia and China for North Korea and the United States for South Korea, tensions festered between the two sides. In 1950, Stalin finally approved Kim’s request to invade South Korea and the conflict began.
On June 25, 1950, a surprise attack by North Korean soldiers who crossed the 38th parallel easily overwhelmed South Korean forces. The United States leaped to the defense of the South but, with no anti-tank weapons, they were initially ineffective. The North Korean forces captured the South Korean capital, Seoul, within three days, and Rhee’s army was in retreat. The United States and South Korean forces were driven back to an area to the south called Pusan. Allies were now forced to take notice and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced his support for the effort.
At this time, an invasion was conceived to attack Inchon, located 150 miles behind North Korean lines. South Korean, U.S. and U.N. forces fought back and recaptured Seoul. MacArthur, the World War II hero, was described in the film as having a huge ego and an aura of infallibility. He was able to reinstate Rhee as president. The allied forces crossed the 38th parallel and now gained ground into North Korea destroying Pyongyang in the process. They reached the Yalu River, the border separating North Korea from China.
North Korean leaders were panicking and messaged Beijing for instructions as to how to deal with the dire situation. At this point, Chinese leader Mao Zedong was cabled by Stalin to intervene in the war. This development was unbeknownst to General MacArthur who was meeting with President Truman on Wake Island. To the piercing sound of bugles, 300, 000 Chinese soldiers attacked. It was Mao’s belief that the greater motivated country, the fighters of a “just war”, could overcome the better-armed adversary. The UN forces were thrown back and retreated amidst temperatures reaching 25 degrees below zero and suffering from fevers. The footage conveyed the misery of the situation. Truman was queried about introducing the atom bomb into the war but assured Attlee that this action would not happen. Pyongyang and Seoul again fell to the Communists. MacArthur, who had wanted to carry the conflict into China, was relieved of his command and Matthew Ridgway was appointed in his place.
By the summer of 1951, both sides had fought the see-saw battle to a stalemate. Prisoners of both sides were treated poorly. One in three American POWs held in North Korea died and the ones who lived were exposed to daily Chinese indoctrinations. The Communists were outraged when half of the North Korean POWs chose not to return to their country. Air battles ensued and the U.S. bombing resulted in the killing of 2 million civilians in North Korea.
Negotiation meetings numbered in the hundreds. In 1952, Dwight Eisenhower was elected president of the United States and the following year, Stalin died. The fighting continued until the signing of the armistice in July 1953. The terms of the armistice included the creation of the Demilitarized Zone, a heavily fortified 155-mile long (250 kilometers) 2.5-mile wide line separating the two countries. The winner of the war depended on one’s perspective. Mao declared it a great victory, and in fact, it was demonstrated that China could no longer be bullied. At the same time, the West held the line—Communism was contained.
One of the truly fine features of the film was the inclusion of the interviews, ranging from military and government leaders to civilians. Kim Ren Ok, a North Korean citizen, talked of the initial Japanese occupation. Niles Bond of the US State Department contributed background to the conflict and described the orneriness of Syngman Rhee while Ten San Din, Soviet advisor to North Korea described the dynamic Kim Il Sung. Colonel Petr Simchenkov of the Soviet high command added information on Kim’s visit to Moscow. Hong An, a student in Seoul, and Yan Von Sik of the North Korean army lent their perspectives on the initial invasion. Lucius Battle, Assistant to the US Secretary of State, covered the American planning for the war. An insightful interview involved Florence Galing, a US Army officer’s wife, who described both a typical citizen’s reaction to the beginning of the war and her reaction when her husband returned from the conflict, looking markedly different. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Bussey was particularly colorful as he mentioned the initial American unpreparedness for war, describing the easy life of troops taking part in the Japanese occupation. Chea Yong Ghu, South Korean marine, provided graphic descriptions of the Inchon invasion. Both Shi Zhe, of Foreign Ministry in Beijing, and Kan San Kho, Deputy Minister of the Interior of North Korea, added their accounts of the North Korean and Chinese panic as the allies reached the Yalu River. Chan Boliang of the Chinese People’s Volunteers contributed a stirring account of the Chinese counterattack. Both the United States Senator John Glenn and Soviet pilot Yevgeni Pepeliayev traded their perspectives on the air battle. Finally, ‘Doc’ Frazier, US POW, gave his somber assessment of the state of American prisoners at the close of the war.
Watching this excellent documentary is very timely because the events on the Korean peninsula today rank number one in terms of acute crises in the world. I found that its combination of exceptional live footage and very relevant interviews added to its quality. It was also evenhanded, presenting a view that was neither slanted to the ally’s side or the communists. There is no question that a great many Americans view the situation as the evil communist invaders trying to capture a country that was not theirs. Conversely, from the communist point of view, the American/UN/South Korean forces were the usurpers. To emphasize the balanced outlook of the film, interviewees came from the United States, South Korea, North Korea, China, and Russia. For those curious about the background of the current Korean predicament, I strongly recommend Cold War, Korea, 1949—1953.
Works Cited
Lee, Taehoon and Joe Sterling. North Korea: Trump is ‘begging for nuclear war’ “. CNN. 2 Dec 2017
Park, Madison. Why the Korean War still matters. CNN. 3 March 2013
Turner, Ted (concept). Cold War, Korea, 1949—1953. CNN. Episode 5. 46:25
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/forgotten-war-still-reverberates-steve-king/
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