Korean War
| Korean War | |||||||||
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| Part of the Cold War and the Korean conflict | |||||||||
Clockwise from top left:
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
United Nations
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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1,742,000 4,042,000 | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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South Korea: 137,899 dead 24,495 missing 8,343 captured United States: 36,515 dead 7,586 missing or captured Other UN 3,730 dead 379 missing Total: ~210,000 dead and missing |
North Korea 294,151–316,579 dead 91,206 missing China 183,108–197,653 dead 25,621 missing or captured Soviet Union 299 dead Total: ~600,000–630,000 dead and missing | ||||||||
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The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought 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 Command (UNC) led by the United States. The conflict was one of the first major proxy wars of the Cold War.
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. 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 recommended member states to repel the invasion. UN forces comprised 21 countries, with the United States providing around 90% of military personnel.
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, re-captured Seoul, and invaded North Korea in October, capturing Pyongyang and advancing towards the Yalu River—the 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 heavy damage from UN bombing.
Combat ended on 27 July 1953 with the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, which allowed the exchange of prisoners and created a four-kilometre-wide (2+1⁄2-mile) Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the frontline, with a Joint Security Area at Panmunjom. The conflict caused around one million military deaths and an estimated one and a half to three million civilian deaths. Alleged war crimes include the mass killing of alleged communists by Seoul, the mass killing of alleged reactionaries by Pyongyang, and the bombing of North Korea. The ground war saw armored offensives with the North's invasion and UN operations, and tunnel warfare by Chinese forces. The air war saw wholesale strategic bombing of the North, the first large jet aircraft battles, and an early use of US nuclear deterrence. North Korea became one of the most heavily bombed countries in history, and virtually all of Korea's major cities were destroyed. 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.