Milestones in the Korean War

60 YEARS AGO

Invasion

On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces, trained and armed by the Soviets, invaded the South to “liberate’’ it.

The invaders overwhelmed the U.S.-trained South Korean troops and quickly captured the capital of Seoul.

Despite the infusion of U.S. and other United Nations ground troops that summer, South Korean and U.N. forces were pushed to the far southeastern corner of the peninsula around the port of Pusan.

Counterstrike

With U.N. forces holding Pusan against determined North Korean attacks, Gen. Douglas MacArthur planned a risky landing at Inchon, 200 miles behind enemy lines.

Marines stormed ashore Sept. 15, 1950, retook Seoul, broke the siege of Pusan, and in two weeks drove the North Koreans back to the 38th parallel.

Soon, the North would be pushed back nearly to the China border.

Stalemate

China responded to what it saw as a threat by U.N. forces by pouring tens of thousands of troops into Korea in November 1950 and sending Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s forces reeling south.

The situation eventually stabilized as the fighting ground to a stalemate for the next two years.

Finally, in July 1953, a cease-fire was signed, and the combatants ended up virtually where they began.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur

A career Army man, MacArthur was the best-known military figure of the Korean War.

Placed in command of the U.S.- led coalition of United Nations forces, he reversed the dire military situation in the early months of the war with a stunning amphibious landing behind North Korean lines at Inchon.

But as he rolled the North Korean army back up the peninsula and approached the Chinese border, it spurred China to enter the war.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, left, served in World Wars I and II but is best known as commander of U.N. forces in Korea.

The 38th parallel

This line of latitude was established as the dividing line between North and South Korea after the surrender of Japan, the colonial occupier, at the end of World War II. The Soviet Union took control of the North and the United States the South. The 38th parallel passes through Virginia just north of Richmond.

FIRST JET WAR

The Korean War was the first war in which jet fighters played a major role and the last major war in which propeller-powered fighter planes were involved.

The communist Chinese were the first to use jet fighters in the Korean War. In November 1950, they appeared with their Soviet-built MiG- 15s, a direct threat to the U.S. propeller-driven F-51 Mustangs. The U.S. responded with the F-86 Sabre, which became the top jet of the war and was credited with destroying more than 700 MiGs versus a loss of about 70 Sabres.

Smoke pours from a swept-wing Russian-built MiG-15 as bullets spatter from the machine guns of a U.S. Air Force F-86 Sabre jet .

This photograph was printed from actual gun camera film. The white ribbon in the upper left is a river on the ground.

integration of the military

In 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which marked the official end of segregation in the armed forces. During the Korean War, the number of black soldiers and officers quadrupled.

Sgt. 1st Class Major Cleveland, left, leads a weapons squad against the North Koreans.

Black troops played a larger part in the war effort, thanks to integration of the armed forces.

MASH units and helicopters

The war saw extensive use of helicopters for evacuating wounded soldiers from frontline positions and MASH – or Mobile Army Surgical Hospital – units staffed with doctors, nurses and surgeons and located close to combat operations for immediate emergency care.

In World War II, it took 12 to 15 hours to evacuate the wounded. In Korea, it took six to 10 hours.

sweltering heat and bitter cold

The hot, humid weather of July 1950 gave way to bitter cold and a massive Chinese counterattack. More than 5,000 U.S. soldiers suffered frostbite during this first winter and thousands more in subsequent winters.

In the most famous winter battle of the war, the 1st Marine Division was surrounded at the Chosin Reservoir, outnumbered eight to one.

Despite snow, wind and temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero that grounded air support and made conditions on the ground miserable, the Marines cut 10 Chinese divisions to pieces and fought their way back to the American lines.

North Korea now | Still a source of conflict

After the Korean War, Kim Il Sung introduced the personal philosophy of Juche, or self-reliance, which became a guiding light for North Korea’s development. Kim Il Sung’s son, Kim Jong Il, is now head of state, but the post of president has been assigned “eternally” to his late father.

Decades of this rigid state-controlled system have led to stagnation and a leadership dependent on the cult of personality.

In October 2006, North Korea said it had successfully tested a nuclear weapon, spreading alarm throughout the region.

Since then, intensive diplomatic efforts have aimed to rein in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. After years of on-and-off talks, a deal was reached in February 2007 under which Pyongyang agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor in return for aid and diplomatic concessions.

Tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world increased steadily again from late 2008 onward, especially after the new South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, ended his predecessor’s “sunshine policy” of rapprochement with the North.

In April 2009, North Korea walked out of international talks aimed at ending its nuclear activities. The following month, the country carried out its second underground nuclear test and announced that it no longer considered itself bound by the terms of the 1953 truce that ended the war between the two Koreas.

Tensions reached a new high this spring, when the South accused North Korea of being responsible for sinking one of its warships, the Cheonan, and cut off all cross-border trade. Pyongyang denied the claims, and in turn severed all ties with Seoul.

North Korea maintains one of the world’s largest standing armies, and militarism pervades everyday life. But standards of training, discipline and equipment in the force are said to be low.