THE KOREAN CRISIS: THE LEGACY OF AN UNFINISHED WAR WRITTEN IN JUNE 2008
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.257/pub_detail.asp
Exclusive: The Legacy of an Unfinished War Ruth King
This past Memorial Day, in a leafy town in Connecticut, where soldiers, sailors, veterans and their families and many townspeople gathered for a tribute to the town’s fallen heroes, I was struck by the number of octogenarians who were veterans of the largely forgotten and unfinished Korean War which cost so many lives and accomplished so little in bringing freedom and its blessings.
Korea, a unified and independent nation since the seventh century, was occupied and annexed by Imperial Japan in 1910 after a succession of wars with China (1894-95) and Russia (1904-05). In the aftermath of World War ll, Korea was freed from the Japanese who surrendered in Seoul in 1945. However, acceding to Stalin’s demands for “buffer zones” in Asia, the nation was divided by the 38th parallel into the People’s Republic of (North)Korea and the Republic of (South)Korea, to be administered by the Russians and the Americans respectively.
There were continuous simmering conflicts between both Koreas caused by South Korea’s resistance to the enforced Communism of the northern regime run by then 33-year-old Kim Il Sung (the father of North Korea’s present dictator) whose patrons were Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung. In fact, thousands of North Korean troops fought on Mao’s side in the Chinese Civil War. When those battle hardened troops returned to North Korea, Kim Il Sung “volunteered” them along the 38th parallel, and escalated provocations from border skirmishes to combat and ultimate invasion of the Republic of South Korea on June 25, 1950.
Secretary of State Dean Acheson persuaded President Truman to defend South Korea, reversing earlier reluctance to enter into another conflict so soon after World War II. The United States prepared to deploy the Seventh Fleet of the U.S. Navy in the Taiwan Strait and send massive air and naval power to the area. Ground troops were committed on June 30th, despite the reluctance of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who were concerned about stretching American defenses. The draft, still in place, increased the numbers of active duty troops to roughly 700,000 Army and 90,000 battle-ready Marines.
Only two days after the invasion, on June 27th, at the urging of the United States, the UN Security Council voted in favor of armed resistance to North Korea. UN support for the defense of South Korea enabled Truman and Acheson to gain public support for U.S. intervention. Although the United States commenced the war under the auspices of the United Nations with contingents of troops from Turkey, England Canada and Australia it was really America’s war.
In July 1950, World War II hero General Douglas MacArthur was given command of U.S. troops in Korea. Despite his initial assessment of an easy victory, the North Korean Army delivered a series of humiliating losses and retreats to the United States Army and drove south to the nation’s capital Seoul.
On September 15th, under MacArthur’s supervision and the on site coordination of Admiral Arthur Dewey Struble, approximately 80,000 marines landed at Inchon with minimal losses. Supported with massive air power the United States forces halted the advances of Kim Il Sung and by end of September they recaptured the capital and North Korea’s forces retreated.
That October, an overly confident MacArthur sent troops across the parallel and Truman’s formerly hesitant advisers encouraged a move to “roll back Communism” and unify the nation. By October 19th, American/Korean troops had captured the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
However, Chinese/Korean troops routed the advance with a massive counterattack which Dean Acheson called the worst American defeat since the battle of Bull Run during the Civil War.By December the North Korean armies pushed American troops southward and reoccupied Seoul in early 1951. This overwhelming defeat of the combined American/Korean forces was the result of poor planning and dismally faulty intelligence.
By early 1951, under the command of General Matthew Ridgeway, American strategy was reassessed, and forces were regrouped, given more air cover and resistance strengthened.After weeks of intense combat, American/Korean forces retook Seoul and pushed north of the 38th parallel.
By April 1951 the fighting stabilized along what ultimately became the “demilitarized” zone and the South was secured. On March 10, 1951, MacArthur asked President Truman for a ‘D-Day atomic capability’ – to intimidate the Chinese who were massing troops along their border with Korea. There were deliberate mentions of the use of the atomic option against the armies of the north, and although Truman grew increasingly hesitant to entrust the nuclear option to MacArthur, he complied and ordered bases in Okinawa, Japan to assemble atomic bomb parts and launchers. Truman had ordered the atomic bombing of Japan, and the Soviet Union and the Chinese had reason to fear his determination and a massive bombing.
On April 11, 1951, Truman demanded MacArthur’s resignation and the Supreme Command was turned over to General Ridgeway. Historians debate Truman’s motivation, but most agree that MacArthur was insubordinate and declassified documents have indicated that Truman distrusted the general. Some historians think this was the moment that Truman blinked and determined to end the increasingly unpopular war.
By mid summer of 1951, the war had settled into the pattern it would follow for the next two years: Although formal negotiations to end the conflict actually commenced on July 10th of 1951, bloody fighting along the 38th parallel continued until 1953. U.S. forces engaged in several battles known as “active defense.” By this time, under the capable command of Generals Ridgeway and Van Fleet the US forces had already gained ground and in operations named “Roundup” “Killer” and “Ripper” had successfully repelled all Chinese/Korean forays. Fighting continued on hills called Pork Chop, T-Bone, Heartbreak Ridge and Old Baldy and the US forces continued their gains on the combined forces of the North Korea, whose offensives all subsequently failed. The North Korean army was rapidly disintegrating and the Chinese turned their full attention to their land redistribution and “re-education” policies.
However, the war took a political turn when Harry Truman announced that he would not run for another term. NATO’s Supreme Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, decided to run for the presidency on the Republican ticket. His platform promised a quick end to the war and a “change” in the corrupt climate of Washington.
The Democrat nominee Adlai Stevenson, Harry Truman’s choice, was reluctant to challenge a war hero, especially one who promised Americans an end to the Korean War and he was hounded by the mounting anti-war sentiments. It is noteworthy that the New York Times endorsed Eisenhower, who went on to win by a landslide.
In November, 1952, a victorious Eisenhower fulfilled his campaign vow and traveled to Korea to help pave the way for the armistice which formally ended the war.
On July 27, 1953 the 38th parallel remained the front line of both north and south and a final armistice was signed. The Americans whose determination and military prowess had decimated and dispirited North Korea, had the ability and will to “roll back Communism” but instead, they rolled back the war.
This July 27th will be the 55th anniversary of that armistice which ended a war that resulted in the deaths of 54,229 American troops, with 103,248 wounded, 8,200 missing in action, and roughly 4,000 captured. The devastation in South Korea included 227,800 killed, 717,100 wounded, 43,000 missing, and an untold number captured and turned over to China.
There was no conclusive victory, no surrender, and nothing gained for the West or Korea. It is also important to note that America’s hand picked President of South Korea Syngman Rhee refused to sign the agreement. Kim Il Sung consolidated one of the most brutal regimes in Asia. On his death in 1994, his son took control and has catapulted North Korea into a bellicose nuclear power which exports weapons and technology to all America’s enemies.
Since the armistice, North Korea has violated the terms continually, including attempts to assassinate the elected presidents of South Korea……President Park in 1974, and President Chun Doo Huan in 1983.
On January 23, 1968 after literally hundreds of violations, North Korean torpedo ships and submarines seized the American spy vessel The Pueblo. The captain surrendered after stalling in an effort to destroy classified documents. The crew members were imprisoned, tortured, humiliated and forced to praise their captors. All efforts to free them were considered “unworkable” by President Johnson who was beset by the Vietnam War. The crisis ended 10 months later after the United States signed a letter of contrition and apology.
That is the pitiful legacy of America’s first unfinished war, establishing a pattern which haunts the free world and our allies today. It was repeated in Vietnam, and in the first Gulf War and in all Israel’s wars since 1973, leaving thugs and despots in place. Wars are now fought until nations get tired of them.
In war, only the continued application of overwhelming force and total surrender will subdue and destroy enemies. That is how the Nazis were defeated and how Japanese imperialistic Shinto was dismantled.
How the present war against Islamic Jihad will end is anyone’s guess. It is not promising.
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