The first volleys of the Cold War: how the conflict in Korea turned into a confrontation between superpowers

On June 25, 1950, active hostilities began between North and South Korea. Soon, on the side of the southerners, the United States intervened in the conflict, and the northerners were helped by the PRC and the USSR. According to experts, the consequences of this war still have an impact on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Could not agree”

After winning the Russo-Japanese War, official Tokyo became the leading player in the Far Eastern region. Japan turned Korea into its protectorate, and in 1910 completely annexed it. The Japanese colonialists modernized the local economy, but at the same time carried out violent Japaneseization and launched political repression.

At the final stage of World War II, members of the anti-Hitler coalition agreed to restore Korean statehood. In August 1945, the Red Army defeated the Japanese military group located in Korea. However, the United States, which did not participate in the liberation of the peninsula, insisted that Japanese troops surrender to the American army south of 38 parallel. Official Moscow did not want to aggravate relations with the Allies and agreed to this. In September, after the signing of the act of surrender of Japan, the Americans landed in Korea and occupied the southern part of the peninsula.

“The USA and the USSR could not agree on specific parameters for the unification of Korea. Left-wing sentiments were strong on the peninsula, but the Americans brought to Korea the politician Lee Seung Man who lived in the United States for twenty years. He set about creating a separate pro-Western state in the southern part of the country and banned the activities of the Communist Party on its territory, ”a full member told RT Academy of Military Sciences Andrei Koshkin.

According to the expert, the actions of the new South Korean authorities aroused the discontent of part of the local population, but his protests were brutally suppressed. In particular, after the mass arrests of oppositionists in 1948, unrest began on the South Korean island of Jeju. Army units with American military advisers and death squads were thrown there. The clashes lasted over a year. About 60 thousand local residents became victims of punitive operations.

On August 15, 1948, the Republic of Korea, officially headed by Lee Seung Man, was officially proclaimed in the south of the peninsula, and on September 9, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea emerged in the north, led by former partisan Kim Il Sung.

• Lee Son Man and Kim Il Sung
• AFP

According to Andrei Koshkin, both republics officially considered the entire Korean Peninsula to be their territory. In 1948, the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from the DPRK, leaving only military advisers on the peninsula. In 1949, the United States decided to take a similar step. At the same time, local clashes began between divisions of North and South Korea. Kim Il Sung asked Moscow to intervene in the situation, but Joseph Stalin wanted to avoid war and recalled most of the Soviet military advisers from Korea.

"Different foreign policy guidelines"

On June 25, 1950, local clashes in the region of the 38th parallel developed into a full-scale war.

“According to the position of Pyongyang, on this day, South Korean troops invaded the territory of the DPRK, but were thrown back. Seoul claims that the attack by the North Korean forces was unmotivated. In any case, parts of the South Korean army were defeated and began to quickly retreat south, ”said Andrei Koshkin.

According to St. Petersburg State University Associate Professor Irina Lantsova, the reasons for the sharp aggravation of the Korean conflict were global in nature.

“What happened in Korea was a“ hot ”manifestation of the rapidly unfolding Cold War. The Korean administrations operating in the north and south had different foreign policy orientations and different visions of their future. It should also be remembered that shortly before that, the People's Republic of China arose. The West reacted quite calmly to this, and Kim Il Sung, who was trying to unite Korea under his rule, could conclude that in this case the reaction will be the same, ”the expert emphasized.

At the same time, according to the head of the scientific department of the Victory Museum, Stanislav Davydov, taking advantage of the situation on the Korean peninsula, the US authorities decided to switch to a policy of actively preventing the spread of communism in the world.

Since the beginning of 1950, the USSR boycotted meetings of the UN Security Council in protest against the participation in the United Nations of representatives of Taiwan, and not China. US authorities took advantage of this. Already on June 25, they passed through the Security Council a resolution expressing “serious concern” with the actions of North Korea, on June 27 they achieved a “condemnation” by the Security Council of the actions of the DPRK, and on July 7 they called on all UN members to help South Korea. This allowed the United States to begin the transfer of its troops to the Korean peninsula under the guise of "UN forces." Over time, a number of Western countries joined the operation. Headed the "UN forces" American General Douglas MacArthur.

• South Korean gunners
• © CLAUDE DE CHABALIER / AFP

At the initial stage of the war, American aid did not have a significant impact on the course of hostilities: North Korean troops were rapidly moving south. As a result of the Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon, Naktogan and Busan operations, the DPRK forces occupied most of South Korea. The US-South Korean force group was pressed to the sea.

“The war was never completed”

In mid-September 1950, the 10th American Corps landed in Incheon in the rear of the North Korean forces. At the same time, a joint grouping of US and South Korean forces launched a counterattack on the Busan bridgehead. DPRK troops had to move to a retreat.

“The United States has thrown huge forces against North Korea - a third of its ground army, most of the fleet, about 20% of the aircraft,” said Andrei Koshkin.

UN forces crossed the 38th parallel and developed an offensive on the territory of the DPRK. The advance of the American group was accompanied by war crimes. According to the expert, the US military killed civilians and tortured civilians suspected of sympathy for the DPRK authorities. According to Koshkin, only in Sinchon district, "UN forces" destroyed a quarter of the population - about 35 thousand people.

In this situation, China and the USSR began to provide active assistance to the DPRK. In October 1950, about a million "Chinese people's volunteers" entered North Korea under the command of Marshal Peng Dehui. In November, Soviet fighter aircraft were deployed in the airspace over the DPRK. On the sides and planes of the Soviet MiGs, the DPRK Air Force identification marks were applied.

By the beginning of 1951, North Korean troops again occupied Seoul. The opposing armies alternately carried out offensive operations, but in the summer of 1951 the front stabilized in the region of 38 parallel.

American General MacArthur proposed moving the war to China and delivering nuclear strikes on China, but Washington did not go for it because of the threat of full-scale intervention in the USSR war. The Soviet Union by this time already had its own nuclear weapons and held several divisions at the Korean borders.

After two years of positional struggle, a ceasefire was concluded on July 27, 1953 between the American and North Korean forces.

• US military and North Korean prisoners
• © INTERCONTINENTALE / AFP

The war cost Korea dearly. According to rough estimates of historians, about 1.5 million inhabitants of the peninsula were killed during the conflict (although there are larger estimates of the victims). As a result of American bombing, 8,700 industrial enterprises and more than 600 thousand residential buildings in the DPRK were destroyed. The irretrievable losses of the US armed forces amounted to about 40 thousand people. The Soviet Union lost 299 troops in Korea. Estimates of China's losses range from 60 to several hundred thousand volunteers.

“You need to understand that the war, in fact, was never completed. Peace between North and South Korea has not been signed so far. Separation negatively affects the political, economic and cultural life of the peninsula. The costs of both parts of Korea for defense and security are enormous, ”stated Irina Lantsova.

• Demarcation line between the DPRK and the Republic of Korea
• © Jung Yeon-je / AFP

According to Andrei Koshkin, the Korean War was for the United States "a breakdown in the global confrontation with the social camp." The expert noted that Washington could not achieve decisive success, but also did not allow its opponents to win.

“The Korean people have an internal integration request. However, this should be based on compromises. Today, the main destabilizing factor in this process is the position of the United States. Washington is not interested in the demilitarization of the region: they need the surrender of North Korea. Therefore, the White House does not create the prerequisites for establishing lasting peace in the region and has a destructive impact on its allies, ”summed up Koshkin.