Bombing of North Korea

Following the North Korean invasion of South Korea in June 1950, air forces of the United Nations Command began an extensive bombing campaign against North Korea that lasted until the end of the Korean War in July 1953. It was the first major bombing campaign for the United States Air Force (USAF) since its inception in 1947 from the United States Army Air Forces.

During the air campaign, conventional weapons including explosives, incendiary bombs, and napalm destroyed nearly all of North Korea’s villages, towns, and cities. Air Force estimates of the destruction of towns and cities in North Korea ranged from 40 to 90%, with 18 out of North Korea’s 22 major cities being at least 50% destroyed. The U.S. dropped approximately 635,000 tons of bombs and 32,557 tons of napalm during the war, mostly on North Korea (compared to 503,000 tons in the entire Pacific theater in World War II). In other words, the United States dropped more bombs on North Korea during the Korean War than it had dropped on the entire Pacific theater during the Second World War.