Today is the 70th anniversary to the “official” start of the Korean War. Despite agreeing to withdraw troops and sign a peace treaty in the 1953 armistice, the US continues to occupy Korea and refuse peace. Consequently, the division of Korea and the war continue to this day.

The US narrative of the Korean War often emphasizes that North Korea crossed the 38th parallel on June 25th, 1950. This framing ignores the frequent border skirmishes along the 38th parallel leading up to 6/25, as well as the roots of the war in the US occupation of the south.

Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910, after Japan struck an agreement with the US to carve up the Pacific among themselves. After Japan was defeated in WWII, the Korean people mobilized en masse to organize people’s assemblies and founded the Korean People’s Republic.

However, the KPR was short-lived. Just a month after Japan’s surrender, the US military arrived in southern Korea and established governance south of the 38th parallel. The people’s assemblies were soon disbanded, the KPR was dissolved, and many of its leaders assassinated.

Despite affirming the right of Koreans to reunification in the Moscow Conference of 1945, the US established a friendly government in the south through a UN-sponsored election in 1948. Most Korean parties considered the election illegitimate and boycotted it.

A number of uprisings against the illegitimate election took place, with the Jeju Uprising and the Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion among the most famous. Newly “elected” president Syngman Rhee mobilized military & paramilitary forces to crush these rebellions with US knowledge & support

After the formation of the Republic of Korea in the south, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was founded in the north. By first dividing Korea and then setting up an undemocratic election, the US set the stage for a war that continues to this day.

Up to 5 million people were killed in the fighting from 1950-1953. The US oversaw a devastating aerial campaign that destroyed up to 90% of North Korean infrastructure and 20% of North Korea’s population. The majority of Korean people in the peninsula were internally displaced.

Since the armistice, the US has maintained a massive troop presence in South Korea while backing conservative and fascist forces that ruled the country autocratically until 1987. Sanctions and occupation continue to kill Koreans on either side of the DMZ to this day.

In sum, the ongoing Korean war was the result of the US interrupting Korea’s process of self-determination and sovereignty. On top of that, US Intervention in Korea cannot be understood outside of the US’s history of genocide, settler-colonialism, and enslavement.

The 70th anniversary is a sobering reminder of the suffering of our people, but also a call for Koreans in the peninsula and in the diaspora to continue to struggle to end this war. We will continue with hope in our struggle for an end to the war and for reunification. Toojeng!