Remember Korea

RESOLVE AND RESTRAINT

We remember Korea as an example of American resolve and restraint. Firstly, seventy years ago, in January 1950, U. S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson implied that the Korean Peninsula lay outside the defense perimeter of the United States. Then, on Sunday July 25, 1950, at 4:00 a.m. Korean Standard Time, and without warning, the communist North Korean “People’s Army” started shelling South Korean army installations. Forty-five minutes later, North Korean infantry divisions and armored brigades crossed the 38th parallel. Therefore, manipulated by the infamous Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the forces of his pawn Kim Il Sung quickly overwhelmed sleepy South Korean units. Likewise, Kim’s calculus of surprise almost succeeded. Grandfather of the current North Korean “dear leader,” Kim was the first of an odd cult-like dynasty, in which regime folklore weirdly portrays the hereditary leader as a deity.

STALIN’S GAMBIT

Responding to the invasion, the United Nations (UN) security council passed a unanimous resolution calling for “an immediate cessation of hostilities” and for North Korea to “withdraw forthwith their armed forces to the 38th parallel.” The shrewd USSR was conveniently absent, after previously walking out. So, on June 27, the security council voted to “furnish such assistance the Republic of Korea (ROK) as may be necessary to repel the armed attack.” But the next day, ROK forces withdrew, failing to detonate bridges spanning the Han River, and communist forces captured the capital city of Seoul.

As I detail in America Ascendant, declassified Soviet documents prove that the clever Stalin believed that he was luring the United States into a quagmire. Thus, he expected that the new People’s Republic of China (PRC) would intervene to prevent an ROK victory and a unified, pro-American Korea. Stalin believed that a war between America and China would give the USSR a decisive global advantage. Consequently, the cold Soviet dictator was not above sacrificing his own Maoist-Marxist allies.

PUSAN, INCHEON, AND THE YALU

Events almost played out exactly as Stalin had anticipated. ROK and American troops retreated all the way south into a defensive perimeter at Pusan, and nervous politicians in Washington expected a Korean “Dunkirk” evacuation. But suddenly, on September 4, 1950, UN Supreme Commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur launched a daring end run with an amphibious assault at Incheon. UN forces swiftly liberated Seoul and cut off panicked and retreating North Korean units. MacArthur rapidly advanced north and captured the northern capital of Pyongyang. Chinese foreign minister Zhou Enlai sent warnings to the UN that the PRC would intervene if UN forced advanced north to the Yalu River and the Manchurian border. Acheson proposed a halt along a Pyongyang-Wonsan line, and a declaration that territory to the north would be a neutral zone. As it turned out, MacArthur prevailed, UN forces advanced north to the Yalu and China intervened.

AT THE PRECIPICE

On November 26, 1950, along a 300-mile front, PRC forces, that had infiltrated across the Yalu, came down from the mountains to overwhelm American, ROK and allied units. The frozen Chosin Reservoir thus became embedded in American military history as a costly ordeal but an orderly withdrawal. Mao Zedong lost his own son and at least 50,000 soldiers in his attack. But the war then eventually settled into a stalemate along a front running along the 38th parallel.As competent American ground commander Gen. Matthew Ridgeway stabilized the UN position; President Harry Truman fired the legendary MacArthur for insubordination. Therefore, the United States resolved to guarantee the existence of South Korea. Furthermore, we avoided a catastrophic war with China that would require the use of nuclear weapons. A restrained America dashed Stalin’s Machiavellian dream. Since a July 27, 1953 cease-fire, a tense standoff has endured across the Korean Peninsula. But between 1950 and 1953, America and China had stood at the precipice of disaster.

EXCEPTIONAL REMINDER

Today, young American activists are educated by revisionists and devoid of perspective. Thus, some misguidedly favor Marxist communist ideology over liberal democratic capitalism. Incredibly, they do not respect the liberty won for them by forbearers who sacrificed their lives at the Chosin Reservoir and on so many other far-flung fields of honor, such as Bastogne and Gettysburg. There and across the skies and seas, young Americans won for today’s youth the right to argue and challenge. However, they also won for them the responsibility to reason and create constructive social progress.

Ironically, staring at today’s young American activists — in plain sight — are everlasting reminders of American exceptionalism, from Berlin to Tokyo. Indeed, there is no better evidence of American resolve and restraint than to remember Korea. Furthermore, South Korea is a phenomenally successful, modern liberal democracy and economic power with capitalist equanimity. Thereafter, so ROK has enjoyed the consistent bipartisan support of American governments for seven decades. By comparison, dynastic, medieval, and paranoid North Korea is an impoverished and grotesque communist disaster. Therefore, those who denigrate America, and the merit of American values would do well to remember Korea.

In conclusion, you can learn more about post-World War II American foreign policy and remember Korea in America Ascendant, the Rise of American Exceptionalism. The book is available from Potomac Books and fine booksellers everywhere.