Korean War

Korean War The war ends with Korea as divided as it was in 1950. The political regimes of both the DPRK and the ROK consolidate and solidify their control over their respective parts of Korea after the war. Kim Il Sung purges political rivals in the north, while Syngman Rhee plays his own political games in the South. Some Korean people discuss their feelings about the war...

Korean War Eisenhower becomes president, and as the truce talks go on, the president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee becomes unhappy that the UN is giving up on liberating the north. The point of the war, for both Koreas, was to unite the peninsula; they just disagreed about who should be in charge. The USA and Great Britain make contingency plans to remove Rhee from office. The war is coming close to an end. Close to 5 million refugees live in the South. Millions of children were abandoned. The vast disparity between the relative wealth of the foreigners in South Korea and the great poverty of the Korean population, in their own country, stands out. The atomic bomb is still used as a threat against the opposition. US and Soviet pilots engage in aerial battles over North Korea. Henry Kissinger, a Defense analyst at the time, shared the erroneous view that the Soviets forced a North Korean attack to deflect US and UN attention away from Europe. The Chinese, like the USA, are getting tired of fighting this costly war, and start to work in earnest with the UN side to end it. President Syngman Rhee (Yi Seung-man) releases North Korean POWs to derail the armistice talks (6:25). The Armistice talks go into the final phases. Operation "Little Switch," the first big exchange of prisoners, takes place. In the meantime, the war goes on. The Spring 1953 Chinese offensives cause huge casualties on both sides, with little gained. The Chinese hit the South Korean part of the line hard to force Syngman Rhee to sign an armistice. The South Korean government did not want to sign the armistice. (They never did, and this is why a peace treaty was later never signed, and that is why the Republic of Korea and the DPRK are still, technically, at war). Syngman Rhee, angered by the inevitable signing of an armistice, released thousands of North Korean POWs into the South Korean countryside in order to cause trouble for the truce talks, and to spite the USA for abandoning a liberation of North Korea.

Korean War The Western prisoners' Chinese captors attempt to "re-educate" them, and try to get the POWs to question their countries' involvement in the war. Communist prisoners of war were send to Kojedo POW camp. There were many problems on Kojedo ( Geojedo ): Horrid conditions, divisions among the POWs causing huge conflicts among the prisoners, and maltreatment by guards and by fellow prisoners. With all of its troubles, Koje-do became a major focal point of press coverage during the war. The North Koreans and Chinese alleged that the USA dropped disease-infected insects on North Korea and China in 1952. They took the threat seriously enough, it seems, that huge public health campaigns were undertaken in North Korea and China. Sympathetic scientists come to North Korea to see the charges for themselves, but the evidence was under the control of the Chinese. US POWs were coaxed into telling that they dropped "germ bombs," with the promise that they would be soon released. The commander of Kojedo Island POW camp, General Dodd, is captured by his own prisoners. He promised to stop forced "screening" of POWs. He was relieved of command upon release. A new prison commander takes over and orders attacks on some of the POW compounds. This impeded the truce talks for a year and the war dragged on.

Korean War The war stabilizes at around the 38th parallel, and the two sides agree to negotiate in the summer of 1951. Night battles and artillery duels ensue. The US Air Force destroys every town and city in North Korea in the air campaign. This episode details the UN bombing campaign over North Korea and the results for the people on the ground. The majority of civilians killed in the Korean War were killed in North Korea by air attack (this segment on the bombing of North Korea was censored from the US version of this documentary, aired by PBS affiliate WGBH Boston, in 1990). The truce talks continue with no progress, as the war stalemates at around the 38th Parallel. Truce talks continue as the war goes on. The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge (known to the North Koreans as "The Battle of Height 1211") in October 1951 was Verdun-style trench warfare, albeit with perhaps more fire-and-maneuver than the Great War battle. The North Koreans believe that this was the toughest battle of the war. Many American families learn of their loved ones in enemy POW camps.

Korean War On January 4, 1951, Seoul falls for a second time to the opposition. UN forces are pushed back to the 37th parallel. Morale among the UN forces is at the lowest ebb. Ridgeway orders his forces to hold ground, use terrain and fall back when necessary and counterattack with superior force of arms. The combined Chinese/North Korean forces try to defeat the UN in South Korea. Ridgeway's change of strategy meant that the UN forces would hold ground, relinquish it, then counterattack with superior air and artillery support. Napalm became the UN's favored aerial bombardment weapon, with over 14 million gallons of it used in the Korean War. The US military's reliance on artillery and airstrikes during the war causes enormous damage in the populated areas of Korea where it is used. By early March 1951, the UN forces were just south of Seoul, and pushing back. Peng Dehuai, the Chinese Army commander, gives up on "victory". MacArthur still wants to attack China. He tells Philippe Daudy, a French journalist, that he would like to drop five atomic weapons on China's main cities. MacArthur criticizes the US president again for wanting to negotiate with the opposition. MacArthur is fired due to his criticism of President Truman. Although it is known that MacArthur wanted to use atomic weapons on Chinese cities, what the Truman administration didn't want others to know is that they too agreed with the general policy of nuking China. Truman fired MacArthur partly because he wanted a reliable field commander who would "pull the trigger" when the president, and ONLY the president, ordered it. MacArthur returns to the USA, with his termination as commander becoming his "finest hour". Secretary of the Army, Frank Pace Jr. believes that although Truman paid dearly in popularity polls for sacking MacArthur, Truman's decision was probably one of the greatest achievements of his administration(!) Right wing South Koreans believe that losing MacArthur as commander dashed their hopes of reunifying Korea under their control. James Van Fleet takes over for Ridgeway, as Ridgeway takes Mac's job. One of the heaviest battles of the war takes place as the Chinese/North Koreans challenge the Imjin River-Gapyeong defensive line. The Glosters of the British 29th Brigade are taken prisoner of war after the Battle of the Imjin River in April 1951.

Korean War 10 PLA divisions slam into the 8th Army in the west, sending them back to the south. The war is going very badly for the UN forces, as a major Chinese intervention was not forseen (although the Chinese DID warn them about crossing the 38th parallel). President Truman considers the use of atomic weapons, and says that their use is up to the field commander (MacArthur). However, as MacArthur increasingly infuriates the president by questioning his orders, Truman considers sacking MacArthur in order to have a more reliable field commander in place in case the president authorizes the use of atomic weapons. Prime Minister Atlee and Truman meet in a show of solidarity, and to discuss the possibility of attacking China. An interesting moment in this episode is when former Secretary of State Dean Rusk admits that the reason the atomic bomb was not needed in Korea was because there were no atomic targets in North Korea, as the US Air Force had already bombed "everything that moved, every brick standing on top of another." (This segment was censored from the version of this documentary shown in the USA). US, UK and South Korean troops near the Changjin (Japanese name: Chosin) Resevoir are cut off. Troops in the Chinese Army suffer horribly from cold and starvation. The US Marines of the 10th Corps fight their way out of the Chinese envelopment, helped by uncontested control of the air. The retreat was orderly, unlike the "bug-out" in the west. On December 6, 1950, the UN abandons Pyongyang. Large numbers of North Koreans leave the north and retreat with the UN army. They left due to the radical nature of the the regime in the north, and because of the danger created by the US Air Force's non-stop bombing campaign in the north. Many atrocities are carried out by armies fighting on the side of the United Nations in their brief occupation of North Korea. General Walton Walker is killed in a jeep accident in North Korea. The X Corps leaves North Korea. Humiliated, the UN forces destroy as much as they can in their retreat out of North Korea.

Korean War The NKPA withdraws to the mountains on the border with China. The South Korean army takes Pyongyang. President Truman meets MacArthur at Wake Island, as MacArthur's successes could make the president look good. But MacArthur's celebrity status makes the administration's ability to handle him all that more difficult. MacArthur tells Truman that the Chinese would not intervene significantly, and that if they do, they would be slaughtered by UN air power. In retrospect, this episode shows the limits of air power, which MacArthur may not have understood. The French journalist, Philippe Daudy, addresses the Americans' use of the term, "gook" in the Korean War. Also in this episode: Secretary of the Army George C. Marshall is concerned that the US public will not understand that ideas of "winning" and "losing" are not exactly applicable to a limited war, like Korea. The UN army moves further into North Korea in October, finding evidence that the North Korean leadership had ordered the killings of hundreds of "traitors" as they withdrew, much like the Rhee government did to its own citizenry in the summer of 1950. The airborne drop on Suncheon in North Korea was meant to trap retreating North Koreans, but the UN forces did not know that the NKPA and its leadership had already escaped to the northern border with China. The US X Corps was sent from Incheon to the northeastern North Korean port of Wonsan in order to envelope retreating North Korean Army, but it also was too late. Their new objective was to advance to the Chinese border. The US 8th Army and 10th Corps were now separated and advancing north. The People's Liberation Army (Chinese Army) were already waiting for them. 14 days of Chinese attacks push the 8th Army back. US units had identified that the enemy was now Chinese, but MacArthur continued to believe that the Chinese were not there. MacArthur asks the US Air Force to make good on its promise to obliterate the Chinese forces now routing the UN armies out of North Korea. President Truman is afraid of widening the war, and asks that bombing be restricted to Korea to avoid a wider war. MacArthur still boasts to the UN that the war will be "over before Christmas," despite the reality of what is happening. UN troops end up on the North Korea-China border on the Amnok (Chinese name: Yalu) River. In the East, the US Marines in the X Corps reach the Changjin (Japanese name: Chosin) Resevoir when they get surrounded and hit hard by many PLA (Chinese Army) division-strength units. The 8th Army in the west falls back in a total rout (late November 1950). For the first time in a foreign conflict, an entire US Army division (2nd Infantry Division) is totally destroyed in combat, losing all of its artillery and its division colors. 200,000 PLA troops push the UN army out of North Korea.

Korean War The Incheon landings of Operation Chromite effectively turns around the disaster for the UN forces. Former Japanese Naval crews (secretly) helped pilot the UN ships through Flying Fish Channel, as they were the only ones who had the technical knowledge to navigate warships through the dangerous channel and tides. Korean civilians bear the brunt: Sections of the city are totally destroyed, and South Korean soldiers shoot "anything that moved" according to Bert Hardy, a British journalist at the landings. South Korean troops committed numerous "reprisal" killings. The 8th US Army and the X US Corps link up on September 22nd and are successful in capturing Seoul. North Korean atrocities are discovered upon the recapture of South Korean territory. MacArthur holds a ceremony for the Syngman Rhee at the capitol building to celebrate the recapture of Seoul. UN forces reach the 38th Parallel, and Syngman Rhee goes against MacArthur's orders and directs the South Korean army to cross the 38th parallel on October 1st. As this happened, the USA decides to cross the 38th parallel, as a way of "fulfilling UN resolutions." MacArthur does not take into consideration what the Chinese might think of the US military stationed on its border. The South Korean army crosses the 38th parallel, and MacArthur soon follows, without much thought to the consequences with China. Zhou Enlai tells Indian ambassador, Panikkar, to tell the USA that China may intervene. The USA doesn't take it seriously. A new policy of "rollback" is in force. This policy is the idea that the USA should not just contain, but actively knock out despicable communist dictatorships, or "roll back," communism.

Korean War This episode outlines the great expansion of the US defense budget in response to a new US policy outlined in NSC-68; an expansion that made defense expenditures amount to about 20% of US GDP: Such expenditures haven't changed since. NSC-68 also put forth a defense posture of direct military confrontation. The Korean War was the event that inaugurated this new policy. Also in this episode is are the initial summer battles of 1950 in South Korea. General Dean is captured at Taejon, after a masterful tactical victory by the NKPA (North Korean Army). Many people in the south responded positively to the North Korean land reform program, others are executed by the NKPA. The Seoul government also executes many civillians. US soldiers often cannot distinguish friend from foe in this new war. Some US units sent to Korea from Japan and Okinawa face difficulties: The entire 3d Battalion of the US 29th Infantry Regiment was wiped out only hours after arriving in Korea. Also discussed is the brutal treatment of US prisoners of war at the hands of the NKPA. The US Army goes into Korea as a racially segregated force. The defensive line soon to be known as the "Pusan Perimeter" soon forms. This episode details the fighting around the Naktong River, west of Taegu and the Pusan perimeter. The Chinese Nationalists on Taiwan (Kuomintang) wish to send 3 divisions to fight in the Korean War, but are turned down by President Truman. MacArthur wanted them. Presidential advisor, Averil Harriman, is sent to Japan to talk to MacArthur and tell him not to attack China, on the president's orders. He's also asked to check on MacArthur's state of mental health, and whether he's fit to command. The USA is able to control the messages coming out of Korea in the UN, as the Russians were still boycotting the Security Council. British Prime Minister Clement Atlee gets on board to support the UN collective security action in Korea. The British have difficulties sending combat-ready units to Korea, but eventually assemble the British 29th Brigade out of the UK advance base at Hong Kong. UN forces enjoy almost complete air superiority, and the bombing campaign begins. The Naktong River battles continue, with the NKPA pushing UN forces further into a tighter perimeter east of the Naktong and south of Pohang. Contingencies for removing the ROK government, two divisions of soldiers, and 100,000 civilians to a US territory are made. These are rejected outright by the Korean president, Rhee. By August 1950, the US military has already suffered over 4,000 dead. MacArthur devises the Incheon landing, and succeeds in getting the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military to accept the idea.

Korean War. In this episode is a detailed description of the USA's first land battle involving Task Force Smith, and the ill-preparedness of US soldiers who thought they were in Korea to just make a show of force. Also here is the North Korean occupation of southern Korea, and the support they received from some of the southern population, while detailing the Kangaroo "people's courts" set up to punish the entitled classes of the ROK regime. MacArthur is named overall UN and US commander of forces in Korea. Australia is an early participant, as well as British forces. The USA goes on war footing once again.

Korean War An explanation of the first year(s) of the Occupation of Korea (1945-1949), and some of the key Koreans and Foreign authorities involved. An interesting moment in this film is when Gregory Henderson, a former US Embassy official, admits that the reason why the USA did not conduct a joint occupation of Korea with the Soviets was because US authorities were afraid that the Russians would have had political advantages with the Koreans that the USA did not have. Another key moment is when Dean Rusk (later the Secretary of State under Kennedy/Johnson) says that the reason he and Charles Bonesteel (both Colonels at the Pentagon in 1945) decided to separate the US and Russian occupation zones at the 38th Parallel was because it would place the country's capital, Seoul, in the US zone of occupation.

Korean War Time period: August 1948 to March 1950. An explanation of the Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion, the Jeju Island Uprising, the withdrawl of the U.S. and Soviet occupation forces, and the strong willingness of both the northern AND southern regimes to begin a war to unify Korea. This episode deals with the January 12, 1950 Press Club speech by US Secretary of State Dean Acheson which left Korea out of the United States' "defense perimeter". Also is an explanation of the North Korean preparations for war. Stalin forces Mao to sign a defense treaty with North Korea. The May 1950 South Korean elections. John Foster Dulles visits the 38th Parallel. The United Nations Commission visits the 38th Parallel to make sure war would not break out (June 1950). The start of the North Korean attack (June 25th). The North Koreans blame the South for starting the wider conflict. The Korean Civil War enters into a major phase: The South Korean military attempts to deal with the initial attack from the North in June 1950. The North Koreans blame the South Korean army on the Ongjin Peninsula of attacking first. The North Koreans were clearly ready for war, but may have been waiting for the very first provocation from the South to justify an attack, (likely similar to the Russia-Georgia conflict of 2008, or the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022).