Korean War

The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict fought on the Korean Peninsula between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union, while South Korea was supported by the United Nations led by the United States under the auspices of the United Nations Command (UNC). The conflict was one of the first major proxy wars of the Cold War and one of its deadliest conflicts on noncombatants, as it is estimated that 1 to 3 million civilians were killed during the war. The war was the first time the United Nations Security Council authorized the use of force under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. After the end of World War II in 1945, Korea, which had been a Japanese colony for 35 years, was divided by the Soviet Union and the United States into two occupation zones at the 38th parallel, with plans for a future independent state. Due to political disagreements the zones formed their own governments in 1948. North Korea was led by Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, and South Korea by Syngman Rhee in Seoul; both claimed to be the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. Rhee's government suppressed socialist uprisings at Jeju and Yeosu-Suncheon, and both sides engaged in extensive border clashes. On 25 June 1950, the Korean People's Army (KPA), equipped and trained by the Soviets, launched an invasion of the south. In the absence of the Soviet Union's representative, the UN Security Council denounced the attack and called on member nations to provide military assistance to repel the invasion. UN forces under the unified command comprised 21 countries, with the US providing around 90% of military personnel. On 27 June 1950 President Harry S. Truman ordered US air and sea forces to aid South Korea. Seoul was captured by the KPA on 28 June, and by early August, the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) and its allies were nearly defeated, holding onto only the Pusan Perimeter in the peninsula's southeast. On 15 September, UN forces landed at Inchon near Seoul, cutting off KPA troops and supply lines. UN forces broke out from the perimeter on 18 September, recaptured Seoul, and invaded North Korea in October, capturing Pyongyang and advancing towards the Yalu River (border with China). On 19 October, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) crossed the Yalu and entered the war on the side of the North. UN forces retreated from North Korea in December, following the PVA's first and second offensive. Communist forces captured Seoul again in January 1951 before losing it to a UN counter-offensive two months later. After an abortive Chinese spring offensive, UN forces retook territory roughly up to the 38th parallel. Armistice negotiations began in July 1951, but dragged on as the fighting became a war of attrition and the North suffered devastating damage from UN bombing, destroying virtually all of North Korea's major cities. Combat ended on 27 July 1953 with the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, which allowed the exchange of prisoners and created a 4-kilometre wide (2 mile) Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the frontline, with a Joint Security Area at Panmunjom. The industrial warfare was defined by armored offensives, with the North's initial invasion and later by UN forces, tunnel warfare by Chinese forces, and the first large jet aircraft battles. The conflict caused around one million military deaths and an estimated 1 million to 3 million civilian deaths. Alleged war crimes include the mass killing of alleged communists by South Korea, the Seoul National University Hospital massacre by North Korea, and the carpet bombing of North Korea by the UNC. North Korea became one of the most heavily bombed countries in history. No peace treaty has been signed; the Korean conflict remains a frozen conflict, which has occasionally flared, such as in the 1966–1969 DMZ Conflict.