The Korean War is often called the “Forgotten War”. Despite limited media coverage, the war had
far-reaching consequences. The three-year conflict between North and South Korea sucked in the United
States, the UN, China, and, although unofficially, the Soviet Union. It pitted capitalism against
communism and set the tone for the American/Soviet cold war that would simmer for the next four
decades. It resulted in the Kim dynasty and an antagonistic North Korea that had been beefing up
its nuclear weapons arsenal. Welcome back to Nutty History. Today, we’re exploring why you wouldn’t
survive the Korean War. Of course, the main reason you wouldn’t survive the Korean War was because…it
was a war. Weapon fire and explosions aren’t particularly safe, and the horrors of war are
well documented. Except that the Korean War wasn’t so well documented – at least by the
US. Part of the reason for this was a series of voluntary and then mandatory press censorships by
the U.S. military in the early days of the war to avoid conflict with the people and other countries
involved. Another reason was that the Korean war came right on the heels of World War II,
right before Vietnam, and amidst the very beginnings of the Cold War. There
was definitely war fatigue among the soldiers in the US military. The number of enlisted soldiers
in the military had shrunk from more than 12 million in 1945 to just 1.5 million by 1948.
When they arrived in Korea on June 27th, 1950, the Americans were woefully under-trained, unprepared,
and lacking firepower. Part of the reason for this was the development and devastating use of nuclear
weapons in Japan at the end of World War II. Many American war strategists simply thought that
the threat of nuclear war had made conventional warfare obsolete – they’d quickly be proven wrong.
At the beginning of the war, there were reports of American bazooka shells simply bouncing off the
Soviet-supplied North Korean tanks. Firearms were not working, radios were not working.
It was a bit of a mess. One of the worst battles came in November of 1950. China entered the war in
support of North Korea and proceeded to beat back the US 8th Army at the Battle of Chongchon River.
The American military was forced to withdraw deep into South Korea, leaving a tiny pocket
of Allied-controlled territory in the far south of the peninsula. The defeat became known as the Big
Bug Out. More defeats would follow, some with dark names like Heartbreak Hill, Pork Chop Hill, etc.
By the end of the fighting in 1953, a vast number of its people had perished because of the war.
Of the nearly 5 million total casualties during the war, an estimated 2-3 million
of them were not in the military . That’s around 50% for those of you not too good at math. It’s
estimated that in the South, an estimated three quarters of a million non-combatants perished,
with another million reported as missing. North Korea lost 20% of its population,
and at least 1.2 million of its people perished during the war.
Despite the defeats early on in the war, the American military bounced back having many
victories, and carried out a very persistent aerial attack across North Korea. By the end of
it, 85% of the buildings in the north had been destroyed. According to military strategists,
more than 200 bombs had to be dropped in order to have an 80% chance of hitting a specific
target. It was one of the most destructive and costly bombing campaigns in military history.
Life was tough for prisoners of war on the Korean peninsula. POWs on both sides of the 38th Parallel
faced horrible conditions and there were cases of multiple capital punishments and prisoner of war
rights abuses of the captured U.S or South Korean combatants . Many were starved, placed
into forced labor, marched until they dropped, or just plainly terminated. It’s estimated
that nearly two thirds of all the American POWs didn’t make it out of North Korean prison camps
alive. The Chinese also administered several prison camps in North Korea during the war.
While they weren’t as quick to assign capital punishment or work prisoners until their demise,
there was major starvation and disease at many of the camps between 1950
and 1951. According to reports, more than 40% of American soldiers held at the camps perished
during that time. The number of South Korean POWs that were held in the north remains unknown.
The South Korean government reported that a little over 42,000 South Korean soldiers went
missing during the Korean War, but less than 9,000 of them returned. Nearly 14,000 were confirmed
as having been given capital punishment, while 19,400 remain missing to this day.
In the South, some 170,000 North Korean and Chinese POWs were held in camps administered
by the U.S. and the UN. Compared to the North Korea camps, POWs in the South were treated a
bit better. South Korea and the U.S. abided by the laws of the Geneva convention that laid out the
humane treatment of prisoners of war. One of the main prison camps run by allied forces was Goeje
POW camp. The camp was located on Geoje Island off the southern coast of the Korean peninsula.
It was a rocky island with little natural water. Moreover, it was only built to hold around 24,000
prisoners. By 1951, there were more than 130,000 prisoners packed into the camp,
some of which were pro-communist, others who were anti-communist. The North Korean
prisoners quickly began organizing, and tensions built, both between the POWs themselves and with
their South Korean guards. Pro-communist North Koreans began infiltrating the camps
by intentionally getting captured, and began sewing more discontent amongst the prisoners.
Violence eventually erupted. Gangs had formed, ad hoc trials were carried out that led to dozens
perishing. One compound that held over 6,000 prisoners was firmly in communist control.
When the prisoners refused to let South Korean guards into the compound for a routine check in
February of 1952, the US military came in and did it forcefully. When troops entered the compound,
the pro-communist prisoners attacked them with whatever tools they could find. When it was over,
140 of the prisoners had died, with just one U.S. casualty. The communist prisoners weren’t finished
though. Later that year, they captured the camp commander, General Francis Dodd. They held their
own trial of the general, as the rest of guards and military men watched from behind the fence.
Instead of resorting to violence, the prisoners gave their captors a list of demands.
Eventually, captives and captors came to a deal, and the general was released.
The Korean War was not exactly a battle between capitalism and communism.
For the Koreans themselves, it was more of a battle between communism and anti-communism. Both
South and North Korea were run by dictators. In the north, there was Kim (ILL) Sung, the notorious
first Great Leader of North Korea, whose son, Kim Jong (ILL), and grandson, Kim Jong Un, would
continue to rule the Hermit Kingdom for decades to come. In the south, there was Syngman Rhee,
an authoritarian who was not shy to silence anyone who didn’t fall in line with his government.
During the war, he ordered multiple capital punishments of North Korean and Chinese troops
that amounted to hundreds of thousands perishing. Even some of his own soldiers suffered because,
in what became known as the National Defense Corps Incident, more than 300,000 South Korean soldiers
drafted into service at the beginning of the war perished due to starvation while marching
towards the frontlines of the war. It turned out some of Rhee’s top officials had embezzled
the money that was supposed to go towards buying food for the troops. Instead, a lot of the money
went directly into Rhee’s pockets. What other shocking facts do you know about the Korean War?
As always, thanks for watching! Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more Nutty History.