The Korean War In Color - Untold Stories Of The Forgotten Conflict

Spring, 1950, a secret location, the Republic of Korea, the southern half of a divided nation. It is less than five years since hostilities ceased at the end of the Second World War, the deadliest war in history, a conflict that has left the world divided between Eastern communism and Western democracy. Men of the Republic of the South's army are preparing a mass execution. In a land riven by the hatred between a communist northern regime and a pro-Western southern government, such brutal punishments are commonplace on both sides. The victims are accused of being spies for the North. The United States, a staunch supporter of the South, claims to have no knowledge of mass executions. The footage is shot by a combat cameraman from the United States Army Signals Corps. Significantly, the presence of a U.S. Army colonel at the execution. Confirms that the death sentences are being carried out under the auspices of SUSLEC, the acronym of a secret organization, the Special United States Liaison Activity Korea, an offshoot of the newly formed CIA. The shocking brutality of these executions is a portent of the terror that will soon be visited on the people of Korea, when atrocities will be committed by both sides, the details of which will stay undisclosed for decades, and some of which must go. 28th of June, 1950. Performance at the Palace of Culture by a North Korean choral and dance troupe in honor of Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin. Three days earlier, on June 25th, using Soviet-trained men equipped with its tanks, artillery, and aircraft, a force of over 200,000 North Korean troops had launched a shock blitzkrieg attack against its South Korean neighbor. By the evening of the Moscow concert, Seoul, South Korea's capital, has fallen and its army has been completely routed. It is the opening salvo in a murderous conflict that will cost the lives of a million combat troops and over two million civilians. It will also bring the United States and its western allies into direct conflict with China and the Soviet Union and drive the world closer to the Armageddon of an atomic war than at any time in history. Restored in high definition, this is the story of Korea, the Forgotten War, The end of the Mourning Cannes. It is a fiercely independent nation, known as the Hermit Kingdom, because of its isolated position on its own rugged peninsula. Korea has experienced only sparse migration, and its people claim strong ethnic homogeneity. Korea has large and powerful neighbors, China to the west, Japan across the sea to the east, and during the 20th century, a communist-led Russian Empire to the north. The Soviet Union. Korea had been occupied by Japan in 1910. For 35 years, until the end of the Second World War, the Japanese had tried to suppress Korean identity, language, and culture. The end of the war and Japanese occupation had brought a new dilemma. Korea became trapped between the world's new power blocs, the United States and its Western allies, and the Soviet Union and its communist supporters, particularly China. The country was arbitrarily divided at the 38th parallel of latitude. In 1948, Korea became the front line of the Cold War in Asia, with a communist government in the north and a pro-western regime in the south. Writing in 1950, Korean poet and schoolteacher Woo Chi Hwan senses the danger facing his country. I finally realized, driving on your coast, East Sea, that for 5,000 years, no, From the dividing of earth and sky, your mute but unfailing care has fostered this peninsula, my beloved country. Your blue dreams that heave and roar, and your sometimes tumultuous spirit have given us rugged mountains and rivers and fields, and you have kept watch Over this poor nation, nestled in your domain. East Sea. Nurturing mother of my country, you lie today under a veil of proud mist, heavy with anxiety over the calamity engulfing this land. Powerful and ruthless men lead the divided country. In the south, Syngman Rhee, a staunchly right-wing authoritarian, and in the north, Kim Il-sung, an equally autocratic ruler and an ardent communist. North Korea's June 25th attack had been Kim Il-sung's attempt to unify the country under a communist regime. It almost succeeds, and during the long, hot summer of 1950, the Republic of South Korea is on the brink of annihilation. The Army of the North, the North Korean People's Army, has Soviet T-34 tanks and a highly disciplined and experienced infantry. September 1950. Sunuji, North Korea, close to the Chinese border at the Yalu River, the opening of a hydroelectric plant. Although the economy of North Korea is still based on traditional agriculture and constrained by the communist policy of collectivization, with Soviet aid, it is introducing mechanization and launching major capital projects to strengthen its infrastructure. North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Han-young, ...writes to the President of the United Nations on September 28th, 1950, placing the blame for the conflict on South Korean leader, Syngman Rhee. He suggests the North's strike is merely a preemptive attack to thwart the South's aggression. The United States government supplied the treacherous bandits of Syngman Rhee with political, military, and economic aid and help in working out the aggressive plan for the invasion of North Korea. Such encouragement spurred the Rhee clique to start the civil war in Korea. The government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea took all measures to achieve the peaceful unification of our fatherland and as far back as May 1950 received reliable information that the Syngman Rhee clique had scheduled an attack on North Korea for mid-June 1950. This enabled our government to take timely measures for repulsing these troops. The army of the Republic of Korea in the south has only meagre battle experience and is poorly equipped. We'll be right back. Months before the June 25th attack, Syngman Rhee had written to his Western allies, the United States. It's fun. Amidst heightened tension with the North, Rhee, desperate to protect the South's burgeoning economy, requested more aid and weapons from the US. Yes. His thoughts were summarised in an official US memo. I would like to have enough rifles to keep 20,000 men on the northern border. With sufficient equipment, the South Korean army could be increased by 100,000 within six weeks. If I could increase the army in this way in a short time, I could move into the north. Nothing can be achieved by waiting. One of our principal difficulties is the vacillations of the US State Department which led to the loss of China and might be seriously harmful to Korea. Fearing the consequences for stability in the region, Rhee's request was denied in Washington. Following the North's unexpected attack, the threat of communist aggression throughout Asia, Especially towards Japan and Taiwan, US President Harry Truman commits US forces to the defense of the South. While civilians flee in search of safety, a Security Council resolution of the United Nations establishes a UN command under the authority of the United States. Second World War veteran General Douglas MacArthur is appointed as the commander of the force. July 5th, the first UNC troops, Task Force Smith, attempt the defence of the city of Osan, south of Seoul, the Army of the South and US-led UNC forces fight a series of delaying engagements as the NKPA, the Army of the North, makes relentless progress down the Korean peninsula. US Air Force B-29 Superfortress bombing raids on the North begin at the end of July 1950. The Superfortress has a payload of 20,000 pounds of bombs. Inevitably, captured US bomber pilots soon join the growing ranks of prisoners of war. With the rapidly escalating involvement of UNC ground troops, the ranks of prisoners soon include men from several UNC countries. Many thousands of POWs on all sides by the end of the war, many of whom would be mistreated and fail to survive. The port city of Incheon, under the control of the NKPA, September 1950, while suspected of being a supporter of the South, is dealt with harshly. This is a civil war as well as an international one. Brother against brother, family against family. UNC forces have formed the Busan perimeter, a defensive position east of the Naktong river and along a line to the coast, only 100 kilometers north of the vital port of Busan. The Busan perimeter is now the only part of the Korean peninsula held by the South and UNC forces. They are trying to hold it against sustained attacks from the army UNC is being reinforced ...on a daily basis, especially by U.S. Marines. Busan is Korea's second-largest port and is unloading 30 ships a day. Pershing tanks are also arriving, which prove to be the equal of the formidable Soviet T-34s. As the South's resources are being replenished by the arrival of more and more UNC troops and material, the Northern Army's supply lines are becoming seriously overextended. Are exhausted and its losses escalating. Pusan Perimeter holds and the momentum of the North's offensive begins to ebb. Simultaneously, General MacArthur is about to launch a highly risky counter-attack, far to the North, to outflank the NKPA. He chooses the surprise landing ground of Inchon, the harbour of Seoul, 30 kilometres west of the capital. It is an extremely hazardous assault in a difficult environment. Its only auspicious aspect is that it might take the North by surprise. Strategy is a mass destruction that leads to the total collapse of the NKPA's offensive in the south. NKPA snipers in camouflaged machine gun positions make progress slow and costly for both sides. In a letter retrieved from his body on the perimeter of Kimpo airport, an unnamed NKPA soldier. The Americans have too much firepower. We only have what we can carry. Our tanks have no fuel and we have no answer to their air attacks. I wish I was with you and our beautiful little girl, but I'm a long way from home and I doubt I will ever see it again. Okay. Hold it tight and think of me. After successfully establishing a bridgehead and securing Gimpo airport, the flag of the South, the Republic of Korea, is raised over Incheon. An elite group of the Northern Army, 20,000 strong. Retreats to Seoul, where it forms a final redoubt. The fighting in the city is ferocious. The United Nations force uses its aerial power to bombard the city. The napalm strikes cause fires to break out in heavily populated areas. Significant civilian casualties are inevitable. The northern defenders even launch suicide attacks in a desperate attempt to hold the city down. Seoul finally falls to US led UNC forces on September 27th, 1950. The beleaguered population sees its city captured by an advancing army twice in three months. To the south, UNC troops who have broken out of the Busan perimeter are soon able to join their comrades around Seoul. The collapse of the North's NKPA cost the lives of over 150,000 men and the capture of 125,000 more. UNC losses, including the attack on Incheon, are less than 20,000. Korean War escalates. UNC forces use United States air power to try to weaken the North's infrastructure. The U.S. Far East Air Force claims that civilians are not targeted. September 1950, the UNC bombing. Bombs kill you instantly, but the fires are the worst. People are trapped, many are burned alive, even women and children. Port of Pyongyang, 40 kilometers west of the city. Bombing raids will become a central part of UNC's strategy. It's widespread devastation. Is human hatred such a cruel thing? All that remains here is a miserable denial of human dignity. Only wreckage remains of what men worked so hard to create and possess. I cannot think of a word of consolation for an old man squatting on the ruins of his home. At the tip of Yeongheung Bay, the high, leaden waves of the East Sea rage, And far down at the edge of Myeongsasimni beach. A group of airplanes exhibits merciless determination. Everything in sight exudes intense hatred. This is mankind's inevitable way. How can I avoid marching on in lonely fury? Communist Party report on the devastation in Pyongyang. The American bombers attack us with their bombs, thinking that if they destroy our buildings, they will destroy our will to fight. Do they not realize that their weapons have the opposite effect? For every pile of rubble and every dead comrade, there are a thousand new recruits to our cause. North Korea's east coast. October. Korean army column. Doochin, a soldier with the NKPA. They were my friends, but not anymore. Gone. I hope the cause we're fighting for is worth it. Our leaders tell us it is. But we are fighting our brother Koreans. Why? On September 30, 1950, the South Korean Army, the ROK, crosses the 38th parallel. U.S. forces followed on October 7. The South Korean Army captures the coastal city of Wonsan on October 10, in readiness for a drive across the mountains. Pyongyang, the capital city of the North. Park Sun-hyeok, commanding officer of the 1st Division of the ROK, pleads with U.S. US General Frank Milburn. Let his Korean unit be allowed to lead the attack on Pyongyang. We are tough. We can march all day and all night. Give us this chance. We can beat any American unit to Pyongyang. It is my hometown, and I know the terrain like the back of my hand. General Milburn just sat silently for what seems like hours. Finally, he said, General Beck, go for it. I walked into HQ with a huge smile on my face. We lead the attack. The room erupted in a chorus of happy shouting. True to his boast, Pak's Korean 1st Division is the first to reach Pyongyang on October 19th, 1950. UNC forces in the South have the advantage of the immense support of the United States Navy, the Royal Navy and vessels from Canada, New Zealand and Australia. At the time of the attack on the North, the North Korean Navy has been obliterated and the UNC has total control of the seas. It is at liberty to use its aircraft carriers to launch airstrikes. Wave after wave of Corsair and Skyraider fighters attack the North. Battleships and cruisers are able to bombard coastal cities unopposed. Confidential North Korean army report to Kim Tu-bong, Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly. Our brave comrades almost secured the liberation of the South from Syngman Rhee But now they are being destroyed by our overwhelming force. The South's superiority in the air is impossible to defend against. The valiant heroes of our army cannot resist. 10, 10, 10. With the intervention of our Chinese and Soviet allies, we will soon be pressed back all the way to the Chinese border. For fatherland is being destroyed. I do not doubt the courage of our men. Their will to fight is as strong as ever. Issue is weapons, supplies, and aircraft. Need fighters to clear the skies. The rapid advance of United Nations forces towards North Korea's border with China, the Yalu River, creates alarm in Beijing. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin promises China large-scale military support, and in early October, Chinese leader Mao Zedong agrees that Chinese troops will fight in support of their North Korean allies. Advancing UNC troops are unaware that China is amassing a huge army of 300,000 volunteers for the campaign. The first contact between Mao's troops and U.S.-led UNC forces occurs in late October. That and subsequent encounters do not go well for the forces of the South. By the end of November, the UNC is in full control. For the Americans, it would be cool if the Chinese Communist soldiers had fought in China's long and bloody civil war. Many of the United States infantry had fought against the German army in Europe, and many of its marines against Japan, the Pacific. Blood spreads and turns the disc flow downstreets. Lift, turn to the rear. There will be no more wounded for you to treat. The young commander says to me solemnly, exhorting me to hold life sacred. He steps out and his own death begins to cross the river of no return. Bleeding soldiers who will not return, who will die the river red. Of the Korean winter of 1950, Titans, the predicament of UNC forces worsened. Arthur sends an urgent message to Washington, suggesting that, like six months earlier, the whole of the Korean peninsula is in danger of falling to the Communists. Even with all the firepower the Americans bring us, all the North, with the Chinese leading their advance, is just too many. Ferocious Korean winter. Chinese, Korean, American, British and Commonwealth, nine other United Nations command countries, struggle to hold their frozen ground in the freezing trench. By Tang Su Chol, Pyongyang newspaper editor and volunteer in the NKPA. Temperature falls below zero again, and my very marrow seems to freeze. As I stand in this dark trench, aiming straight at the enemy, I weep, thinking of my hometown and of my family, moaning through the night, shaking with dread under the enemy's evil hooves. ...is either to accept the humiliation of defeat, or to escalate and face the prospect of Soviet Union and its battle-hardened Red Army, gauging the entire communist world on the battlefield that placed the world on the threshold of World War III. Or certainly, President Harry Truman, who had sanctioned the use of the atom bomb against Japan in 1945, shocks the world by stating publicly if necessary authorize its use again. Now General MacArthur decides quickly what his targets in China and North Korea will be. 26 atomic weapons for the strikes. Truman asks the U.S. Congress for $16.8 billion, declares a state of national emergency. Opinion in the U.S. hardens even more, and Chinese led northern troops into Seoul beginning in 1951. And President Syngman Rhee writes to President Truman, If we lose this opportunity, the Chinese and northern communists will destroy all our armed forces and most of the anti-communist population. To save this situation, we must do all we can to defeat and destroy the Chinese invaders now and authorize General MacArthur to use any weapon that will check communist aggression anywhere, even the atomic bomb. A few bombs on Moscow will shake the communist world. As America's allies try to persuade Washington not to escalate the war to a global conflagration, the world stands on the brink. January 1951. With an atomic war in Korea looming, the military situation for UNC forces on the ground suddenly eases as the advance of northern and Chinese forces is held. The threat of the deployment of atomic weapons recedes for the time being. 100 kilometers southeast of Seoul, 23rd of February 1951. The advance of the North is halted at the cost of 17,000 UNC casualties. They are even greater on the communist side. A North Korean officer's report. Our men are exhausted. Most of our units are at half strength. We are losing too many men, and the cold of winter is still gnawing at us. A swift victory would not be possible in this war. Once again, the UNC begins to move north, and by March 7th, just seven months after China entered the war, has retaken Seoul. The city changes hands once more, the fourth time since June 1950. A period of just nine months. Spring 1951, the Taebaek Mountains, east of Seoul, captured communist troops are under interrogation by UNC forces. General MacArthur's increasingly bellicose statements have led President Truman to relieve him of command of the UNC. General Matthew Ridgway replaces him. Despite this, MacArthur's request for atomic weapons is carried forward, and they are moved to Okinawa, in Japan, in readiness. The threat to world peace is far from over, and the suffering of the men on the ground and the people of Korea will go on for more than two years.