Korea: The Forgotten Anniversary
58 years ago today, June 25, 1950, the North Korean Army attacked across the 38th parallel beginning the Korean War. The so called "forgotten war," the first major confrontation of the Cold War, had begun. Viet-Nam has been more controversial and its spectre still haunts our national discussion about the uses and limits of wars to this day. Korea on the other hand is hardly ever mentioned. Yet Korea may have been a more dangerous war: it was the only time during the Cold War that the US faced both Soviet (pilots) and Chinese troops in combat, over a million in the Chinese case; the Soviets had recently acquired nuclear weapons and super power tensions elsewhere, like Berlin, were escalating; there were some big-time players in the US who advocated using the A-bomb against the Chinese, including Douglas MacArthur-- commander of the UN forces no less! Calmer heads prevailed but that war still cost millions of lives and ruined millions more. Nowadays we see so many statistics in our daily lives, with 24 hour news and sports and the internet, sometimes its easy to lose track of what's behind the numbers:
Selected Statistics:
South Korea (ROK):
Military: 187,712 military killed; 30,000 still MIA (presumed dead); 429,000 (est) wounded
Civilians: 500,000 (low estimate) civilians dead
North Korea:
1.5 million military and civilians killed or still missing
China:
Chinese Official: 152,400 military killed or missing: 238,000 wounded
Western Estimate: 600,000 military deaths from all causes (like the freezing cold)
US:
36,568 military killed or still missing: 103,284 wounded
All other UN contingents:
3,063 killed or still missing; 11,817 wounded
POWs: South Korea: 60,000; US: 7190 (declared by Communists, there were likely many more); North Korea: over 75,000; China: approx. 20,000
Cost to US: approx 35 billion (1950) dollars!
(source: Their War For Korea. Allan Millett)
This in three years! Nearly 3.5 million people dead or wounded, each one with a family and/or friends. That's a lot of forgetting.
Click here to view an excellent Korean War time line of events.