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CHAPTER I Korea and the Background of Conflict |
The Foundation of Freedom is the Courage of Ordinary PeopleHistory |
| One should not forget. . . that the earth is round and that "everyroad leads to Rome." |
| WALDEMAR ERFURTH, Surprise |
Every now and then in the history of mankind, events of surpassing importancetake place in little-known areas of the earth. And men and women in countriesdistant from those events whose lives turn into unexpected and unwantedchannels because of them can but wonder how it all happened to come about.So it was with Korea in 1950. In this ancient land of high mountains andsparkling streams the United Nations fought its first war.
For decades it has been axiomatic in Far Eastern politics that Russia,China, and Japan could not be indifferent to what happened in Korea, and,to the extent that they were able, each consistently has tried to shapethe destinies of that peninsula. For Korea lies at the point where theRussian, Chinese, and Japanese spheres meet-the apex of the three greatpower triangles in Asia. Korea, the ancient invasion route of Japan intothe Asian continent, in turn has always been the dagger thrust at Japanfrom Asia.
Korea is a mountainous peninsula of the Asiatic land mass and has naturalwater boundaries for almost the entire distance on all sides. The Yaluand Tumen Rivers are on the north, the Sea of Japan on the east, the KoreaStrait on the south, and the Yellow Sea on the west. The only countriesof the Asiatic mainland having boundaries with Korea are China across theYalu and Tumen Rivers for 500 miles and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR) for a distance of approximately eleven miles along the lower reachesof the Tumen River.
Korea embraces a little more than 85,000 square miles, is about thesize of Utah, and in shape resembles Florida. It has more than 5,400 milesof coast line. High mountains come down abruptly to deep water on the eastwhere there are few harbors, but on the south and west a heavily indentedshoreline provides many. There is almost no tide on the east coast. Onthe west coast at Inch'on the tidal reach of thirty-two feet is the secondhighest in the world.
Korea varies between 90 and 500 miles in width and 525 to 600 milesin length. The mountains are highest in the north, some reaching 8,500feet.
The high Taebaek Range extends down the east coast dike a great spine,gradually falling off in elevation to the south. Practically all of Koreasouth of the narrow waist from P'yongyang to Wonsan slopes westward fromthe high Taebaek Range. This determines the drainage basins and directionof flow of all sizable rivers within Korea-generally to the southwest.
Only about 20 percent of Korea is arable land, most of it in the southand west. But every little mountain valley throughout Korea is terraced,irrigated, and cultivated. The principal food crops are rice, barley, andsoybeans, in that order. Most of the rice is raised in the south wherethe warm and long growing season permits two crops a year. In 1950 thecountry's population of about 30,000,000 was divided between 21,000,000south and 9,000,000 north of the 38th-Parallel, with 70 percent engagedin agriculture. [1] The population density of South Korea, 586 per squaremile, was one of the highest in the world for an agricultural people. Althoughhaving less than one third of the population, North Korea in 1950 comprisedmore than half (58 percent) the country.
Despite the fact that Korea has the sea on three sides, in climate itis continental rather than oceanic. Summers are hot and humid with a monsoonseason generally lasting from June to September. In winter, cold windscome from the interior of Asia.
The Hermit Kingdom or Chosen, the "Land of the Morning Calm,"has an ancient history. Its recorded history begins shortly before thetime of Christ. An invasion from China, about one hundred years after thebeginning of the Christian era, established a Chinese influence that haspersisted to the present time. Many of China's cultural and technical advances,however, were borrowed from early Korea.
In a short war of a few months' duration in 1894-1895, known as theSino-Japanese War, Japan ended Chinese political influence in Korea. Thereafter,Russian ambitions in Manchuria clashed with Japanese ambitions in Korea.This rivalry led to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which ended withJapan dominant in Korea. Despite the bitter opposition of the Korean people,Japan proceeded step by step to absorb Korea within her empire and in 1910annexed it as a colony. During World War II, in 1942, Korea became an integralpart of Japan and came under the control of the Home Ministry.
All the critical events which occurred in Korea after 1945 grew outof the joint occupation of the country at the end of World War II by theUnited States and the USSR. The boundary between the two occupation forceswas the 38th Parallel.
KOREA AND THE BACKGROUND OF CONFLICT
While all the influences operating on the decision to divide Korea forpurposes of accepting the surrender of the Japanese forces there at theend of World War II cannot here be explored, it appears that American militaryconsideration of an army boundary line in Korea began at the Potsdam Conferencein July 1945. One day during the conference, General of the ArmyGeorge C. Marshall called in Lt. Gen. John E. Hull, then Chief of the OperationsDivision, U.S. Army, and a member of the U.S. military delegation, and toldhim to be prepared to move troops into Korea. General Hull and some ofhis planning staff studied a map of Korea trying to decide where to drawa line for an army boundary between U.S. and Soviet forces. They decidedthat at least two major ports should be included in the U.S. zone. Thisled to the decision to draw a line north of Seoul which would include theport of Inch'on. Pusan, the chief port of Korea, was at the southeasterntip of the country. This line north of Seoul, drawn at Potsdam by the militaryplanners, was not on the 38th Parallel but was near it and, generally,along it. The American and Russian delegates, however, did not discussa proposed boundary in the military meetings of the Potsdam Conference.[2]
The matter lay dormant, apparently, in the immense rush of events followinghard on the heels of the Potsdam Conference, which terminated 26 July-thedropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the first part ofAugust, the Russian declaration of war against Japan on 8 August, and theJapanese offer of surrender on 1o August. The latter event brought thequestion of a demarcation line in Korea to the fore. It was settled inGeneral Order 1, approved by President Harry S. Truman on 15 August 1945and subsequently cleared with the British and Soviet Governments. It providedthat U.S. forces would receive the surrender of Japanese forces in Koreasouth of the 38th Parallel; Soviet forces would receive the surrender ofJapanese forces north of the Parallel. General of the Army Douglas MacArthurissued General Order 1 on 2 September as the directive under which Japaneseforces throughout the Far East would surrender after the Japanese signedthe Instrument of Surrender that day at Tokyo Bay in obedience to the ImperialRescript by Emperor Hirohito.
It seems that the Soviet Army reached the 38th Parallel in Korea on26 August. On 3 September, just as XXIV Corps was loading at Okinawa 600miles away for its movement to Korea, Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge, commanderof XXIV Corps and designated U.S. Commander in Korea, received a radiomessage from Lt. Gen. Yoshio Kozuki, commander of the Japanese 17thArea Army in Korea, reporting that Soviet forces had advanced southof the 38th Parallel only in the Kaesong area. They evacuated the townon 8 September, evidently in anticipation of an early American entry. [3]
Two weeks after he had accepted the surrender of the Japanese southof the 38th Parallel in Seoul on 9 September 1945, General Hodge reportedto General MacArthur in Tokyo, "Dissatisfaction with the divisionof the country grows." The 38th Parallel had nothing to commend itas a military or political boundary. It crossed Korea at the country's widest part without respectto terrain features; it came close to several important towns; and it cutoff the Ongjin Peninsula in the west from the rest of Korea south of theParallel.
For a few days at least after the American landing at Inch'on on 8 September1945 the Koreans lived in a dream world. They thought this was the endof fifty years of bondage and the beginning of an era of peace, plenty,and freedom from interference by foreign peoples in their lives.
And for the Americans, too, who experienced those memorable Septemberdays in Korea there was little at the moment to suggest the disillusionmentthat onrushing events of the next few years would bring. A composite company,made up of elements of each rifle company of the 7th Infantry Division,paraded proudly and happily out of the courtyard at the Government Housein Seoul at the conclusion of the ceremonies attending the Japanese surrender.The wide thoroughfare outside was so densely packed with the throng therewas scarcely room for it to pass. These men had fought across the Pacificfrom Attu to Okinawa. [4] They thought that war was behind them for therest of their lives. Five years later this same division was to assaultthis same capital city of Seoul where many of its men were to fall in thestreets.
In an effort to reunite the country and to end the ever-mounting hostilitiesbetween the two parts of divided Korea, the General Assembly of the UnitedNations in November 1947 voted to establish a nine-nation United NationsTemporary Commission on Korea (UNCOK) to be present in Korea and to superviseelections of representatives to a National Assembly which would establisha national government. But the Soviet Union denied the U.N. Commissionpermission to enter North Korea, thus preventing that part of the countryfrom participation in the free election.
South Korea held an election on 10 May 1948 under the auspices of theUnited Nations, sending 200 representatives to the National Assembly. TheNational Assembly held its first meeting on 31 May, and elected SyngmanRhee Chairman. On 12 July the Assembly adopted the Constitution of theRepublic of Korea and formally proclaimed it the next day. Three days laterthe Assembly elected Syngman Rhee President. On 15 August 1948 the governmentof the Republic of Korea was formally inaugurated and the U.S. Army MilitaryGovernment in Korea terminated. President Rhee and General Hodge on 24August signed an interim military agreement to be in effect until suchtime as the United States withdrew its troops. The withdrawal of thesetroops began about three weeks later on 15 September. The United Statesrecognized the new Republic of Korea on New Year's Day, 1949. Mr. JohnJ. Muccio, special representative of the United States to the new governmentof South Korea since 12 August 1948, became the first U.S. Ambassador tothe Republic of Korea on 21 March 1949. [5]
Meanwhile, events in North Korea took a course which seems to have beenguided by a deliberately planned political purpose. On 10 July 1948 theNorth Korean People's Council adopted a draft resolution and set 25 Augustas the date for an election of members of the Supreme People's Assemblyof Korea. This assembly on 8 September adopted a constitution of the DemocraticPeople's Republic of Korea and, the next day, claimed for this governmentjurisdiction over all Korea. [6] Kim Il Sung took office 10 September asPremier of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Thus, three years after U.S. military authorities accepted the surrenderof the Japanese south of the 38th Parallel there were two Korean governmentsin the land, each hostile to the other and each claiming jurisdiction overthe whole country. Behind North Korea stood the Soviet Union; behind SouthKorea stood the United States and the U.N. Temporary Commission on Korea.
The General Assembly of the United Nations on 12 December 1948 recognizedthe lawful nature of the government of the Republic of Korea and recommendedthat the occupying powers withdraw their forces from Korea "as earlyas practicable." Russia announced on 25 December that all her occupationforces had left the country. But North Korea never allowed the U.N. Commissionto enter North Korea to verify this claim. On 23 March 1949 President Trumanapproved the withdrawal of the remaining U.S. troops from Korea, a regimentof the 7th Infantry Division. Ambassador Muccio notified the U.N. Commissionon 8 July 1949 that the United States had completed withdrawal of its forceson 29 June and that the U.S. Army Forces in Korea (USAFIK) had been deactivatedas of midnight 30 June. [7]
While these events were taking place, internal troubles increased inSouth Korea. After the establishment of the Syngman Rhee government inthe summer of 1948, civil disorder spread below the 38th Parallel. Therebegan a campaign of internal disorders directed from North Korea designedto overthrow the Rhee government and replace it by a Communist one. Armedincidents along the 38th Parallel, in which both sides were the aggressorsand crossed the boundary, became frequent. [8]
North Korea did not stop at inciting revolt within South Korea and takingmilitary action against the border, it made threats as well against theUnited Nations. On 14 October 1949 the Foreign Minister of North Koreasent a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations denying thelegality of U.N. activity in Korea and declaring that the U.N. Commissionin Korea would be driven out of the country. Eight days later the GeneralAssembly of the United Nations decided to continue the Commission and chargedit with investigating matters that might lead to military action in Korea. [9] The UnitedNations supplemented this action on 4 March 1950 by the Secretary General'sannouncement that eight military observers would be assigned to observeincidents along the 38th Parallel.
During the month there were rumors of an impending invasion of SouthKorea and, in one week alone, 3-10 March, there occurred twenty-nine guerrillaattacks in South Korea and eighteen incidents along the Parallel. [10]Beginning in May 1950, incidents along the Parallel, and guerrilla activityin the interior, dropped off sharply. It was the lull preceding the storm.
[1] Central Intelligence Agency, National Intelligence Survey (NIS), Korea, 1949, ch. 4, pp. 41-42, and ch. 6, pp. 61-66. Figures are from 1949 census.
[2] Interv, author with Gen John E. Hull, Vice CofS, USA, 1 Aug 52. Dept of State Pub 4266, The Conflict in Korea, gives the diplomatic and legal background of U.S. commitments on Korea. A detailed discussion of the division of Korea at the 38th Parallel will be found in Lt. Col. James F. Schnabel, Theater Command: June 1950-July 1951, a forthcoming volume in the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE KOREAN WAR. TERMINAL Conference: Papers and Minutes of Meetings (July, 1945), U.S. Secy CCS, 1945, pp. 320-21 (hereafter cited, TERMINAL Conf: Papers and Min).
[3] GHQ FEC, History of U.S. Army Occupation in Korea, ch. IV, MS in OCMH Files.
[4] The author witnessed this scene.
[5] text of agreement in Dept of State Pub 3305. Korea: 1945-1948, Annex 26, pp. 103-04: Ibid., Annex 23, pp. 100-101; George M. McCune, Korea Today (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950), p. 231. n. 25.
[6] Korea: 1945-1948, p. 21: McCune, Korea Today, p. 220.
[7] Lt Col Joseph Rockis, Notes on United States Occupation Force in Korea, OCMH Files; The Conflict in Korea, pp. 7, 20; McCune, Korea Today, pp. 267-68; Interv, author with Maj Gen Orlando Ward (CG US 6th Inf Div in Korea 1948), 31 Jan 52.
[8] See Capt Robert K. Sawyer, The U.S. Military Advisory Group to the Republic of Korea, pt. II, a monograph In the files of OCMH, for an extended treatment of this subject. (Hereafter cited as Sawyer, KMAG MS.) This MS is in three parts: I: 1 Sep 45-30 Jun 49; II: 1 Jul 49-24 Jun 50; III: 25 Jun-30 Jul 51.
[9] The Conflict in Korea, p. 21.
[10] DA Wkly Intel Rpts, 17 Mar 50, Nr 56, p. 14; U S. Military Advisory Group, Semi-Annual Report to the Republic of Korea, 1 January-15 June 1950 (hereafter cited as Rpt, USMAG to ROK, 1 Jan-15 Jun 50), dec. IV, pp. 14-15.
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