Read on Twitter
70 years ago today, June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea and began the Korean War - seminal moment that set the course of modern Korean history and marked the beginning of the hot Cold War.
Despite its significance, it is often referred to in US as "the Forgotten War" - although Koreans certainly never forgot it. So in this thread, I will go over a few points that are particularly forgotten in the Forgotten War.
- Recall that WWII ended in 1945, when Korea gained independence from Imperial Japan. But after having been a single country for a millennium, Korea emerged as two divided states: North and South Korea. This was felt as deeply unnatural for all Koreans on either side of the 38th.
People like to say the war happened because of North Korea. That may be true, but that's like saying a bullet killed a person. Fundamentally, the Korean War happened because Korea's colonization and division. Japan's imperialism, followed by the Cold War, caused this war.
- Korean War was incredibly bloody. Again, this happened just five years after the end of WWII. US dropped all the extra munition it produced during WWII onto N Korea. In the end, US dropped more bombs in N Korea than the Pacific Theater during the WWII.
Approx. 1.5 million N Koreans were killed in the war, or 15% of the population. US self-assessed that not a single building in N Korea remained standing. The onslaught appalled people around the world. One of them was Pablo Picasso, who painted "Massacre in Korea" in 1951.
- Korean War was an international war. It was also the first war that deployed UN forces. 18 countries sent combat troops to Korea, and 7 more countries sent medical and support troops. The world genuinely feared the Korean War was the beginning of WWIII.
In addition to superpowers like US, UK, USSR and PRC, countries that sent troops to S Korea include Philippines, Ethiopia and Luxembourg - not exactly the first names one thinks of as military powers. It is a testament to how important the world saw this war.
- Korean War almost became a nuclear war. In late 1950, General MacArthur was reviewing plans to drop as many as 34 nukes in North Korea, Manchuria and other parts of China to repel the Chinese offensive. Harry Truman, and UK PM Clement Attlee, put a stop to that plan.
- For Koreans, the war was hell on earth. Korean War was simultaneously an international war and a civil war. It meant a complete collapse of social order, a free license to murder people you always hated. A petty beef among the villages often escalated to a full scale massacre.
The mid-section of Korea, including Seoul, changed ownership 4 times in a year. N Korea took the city initially, S Korea recovered, N Korea took it again, then S Korea recovered. Each time, the military massacred civilians that it suspected of collaborating with the other side.
In this context, "collaboration" could mean something as simple as receiving the food ration given by the occupying army and signing some piece of paper that was shoved to your face at gunpoint.
- Korean War is an important moment in African Am history, as it was the first US war fought with racially integrated troops. Truman integrated the military in 1948, and the Korean War was the first war where Black soldiers fought side by side with white soldiers.
There is a bitter irony in the fact that Black soldiers saw the integration as a major advancement in civil rights - because in practical terms, they were celebrating the chance to kill Asians on equal terms as white soldiers.
- After the war, more than 200k US soldiers (population of today's Pittsburgh) were stationed throughout S Korea. In a country that was completely destroyed from the war, the US troop presence was practically the only remaining civilization in S Korea for some time.
For a time, US camptowns were the only source of economic and cultural activities in S Korea. One of the results of this period is: K-pop. Because the only venue for live music was the clubs for US soldiers, musicians in Korea all had to learn the latest American music.
To play at a GI club, Korean musicians had to audition for the US military and literally obtain a license (photo). Audition routine included the latest rock 'n roll by Elvis and James Brown. This period put S Korea on a track to develop its own, US-influenced pop culture.
- Another aspect of US camptowns was a massive proliferation of prostitution, which is detailed in Katherine Moon's phenomenal book Sex Among Allies. Upward of a million Korean women were pushed into sex work as little else remained in their society. https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Among-Allies-Katharine-Moon/dp/0231106432
S Korean military dictatorship quietly encouraged the prostitution, as they believed keeping US soldiers happy was important for maintaining the alliance and the US troop presence. In a sense, this was a softer version of Comfort Women, the state's commodification of female body.
I could go all day with this stuff, but this thread is already too long so I'll stop here. Happy to field questions and comments about the Korean War on this important anniversary. /end
