U.S. And South Korea Reach An Agreement To A Draft Agreement For An End To The Korean War

 

The Hill: South Korea 'effectively' reaches agreement with US to end Korean war 

The United States and South Korea have “effectively” reached an agreement on a draft declaration that would formally end the Korean War, South Korea’s top diplomat said Wednesday. 

An armistice was signed in July 1953 to end a war that began in 1950 when North Korean troops invaded South Korea. 

A formal peace treaty ending the war was never signed. North Korea has been unresponsive to talks on formally ending the war, Yonhap noted.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: North Korea has not responded. 

U.S. And South Korea Reach An Agreement To A Draft Agreement For An End To The Korean War 

Seoul, Washington agree on draft for end-of-war declaration: minister -- Korea JoongAng Daily 

South Korea 'effectively' agrees on draft with US to end Korean War -- CNN  

South Korea and US Agree on Draft End-of-War Declaration 'In Principle' -- The Diplomat  

Seoul and Washington Reconcile Draft Declaration Ending Korean War -- Sputnik

North Korea Believes It Can Win A Second War

North Korean special forces, armed with modified AK rifles fitted with what are believed to be high-capacity magazines, parade through Pyongyang. Photo: AFP

Andrew Salmon, Asia Times: Nightmare scenarios: How Korean War 2 could ignite

Resumption of the 1950-53 conflict is more likely by accident than design - but North Korea believes it can win

Thursday, June 25, 2020, marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of one of the world’s cruelest and deadliest post-war conflicts, the Korean War.

In South Korea, there were no parades and little flag waving, for June 25 is a tragic date that does not merit celebration. It marks the 1950 North Korean invasion that initiated a vortex of carnage which would suck in troops from across the world, including the US and China, and leave the peninsula scattered with perhaps two million corpses

Today,147 sets of South Korean war remains returned from DNA testing at a US base in Hawaii to a ceremony attended by President Moon Jae-in. Veterans visited cemeteries, and museums held special exhibitions.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The North Koreans are not the only ones who believe they can decisively win the next war. One of the most disturbing trends that I have seen in the past five years is the belief among many in China's elite that they can win in a war against the U.S.. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Chinese Textbooks Blame South Korea For The First Korean War

Wikimedia

Sebastien Roblin, National Interest: 1,000,000 People Died during the Korean War. This Is the Forgotten Story of How It Started.

The Korean War is variously estimated to have claimed between 1.2 and three million lives, most of them civilian. Who was responsible for this tragedy?

For Western nations, the answer is uncomplicated: North Korea, backed by China and the Soviet Union, launched an unprovoked invasion of its southern neighbor in 1950.

An alternate history has been presented in Chinese textbooks, one in which the illegitimate lackeys of Western imperialists in the South attacked first, but China and the Soviet Union intervened to prevent an aggressive American invasion that threatened to sweep into China. The fact that a significant portion of North Korea’s population perished due to extensive U.S. bombing has made some sympathetic to the suffering of the small nation.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Yup .... this article brings back an experience that I had in China in the 1980s. At that time I got into a debate with some of my Chinese counterparts on the Korean war, and they sincerely believed that the Korean war was started by South Korea. I said no .... but they did not believe me.

A Glimpse Into What War With Kim Jong-un's North Korean Military Would Look Like

Sydney Morning Herald: North Korea: a terrifying glimpse into what war with Kim Jong-un's military would look like

As many as 64,000 could die in the first three hours of a war unlike any seen in generations, perhaps ever.

Robert Kelly is an American living in South Korea. As is well known to the more than 25 million viewers who've watched the hilarious video of his children bursting into his BBC interview, the Korea expert has a young family.

While Kelly is sceptical that tensions over North Korea's nuclear program will lead to war, he and his wife regularly discuss what they will do if there is an attack by the North on Busan, where Kelly teaches at the city's university.

"With a young family I take it seriously and my wife and I talk about it whenever these things pop up – what to do, where to go, what to pack," he said.

Busan in the south would be in range of the North's ballistic missiles, including nukes. The THAAD shield system might stop some of them but not all.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: No one doubts that in any hypothetical major conflict on the Korean peninsula the causalities rates will be astronomical .... and in turn the hope is that this realisation is more than enough to dissuade all parties from starting a war. But North Korea has always been a special case .... and with cause. They have a long history of provocations .... and one day a provocation may just be enough to literally explode the entire peninsula into war.

What If The U.S. Used Nuclear Weapons During the Korean War?

Robert Farley, National Interest: What If America Used Nuclear Weapons During the Korean War?

In 1950, as U.S. forces retreated from China’s onslaught across the Yalu River, General Douglas MacArthur called for strategic air attacks against China. Many believed that this would necessarily include the atomic bomb, America’s “asymmetric advantage” of the time.

America’s large arsenal of atomic weapons, and the fleet of strategic bombers necessary to deliver those weapons, was the central military advantage that the US enjoyed over the Soviet Union in 1950. The large, battle tested Red Army remained in Eastern Europe, capable of moving west on short notice. Many believed that only America’s ability to destroy the Soviet heartland with nuclear weapons held the Russians back. Many also believed that Moscow had orchestrated the war on the Korean Peninsula.

So why didn’t the United States use the bomb in Korea? What if it had?

Read more ....

WNU editor: The use of nuclear weapons would have escalated the conflict and spread the war to China and other countries .... resulting in the Soviet Union intervening.

The Korean Armistice: Sixty Years Later

The Korean Armistice: Sixty Years of “War By Other Means” -- Scott A. Snyder, Council On Foreign Relations

This weekend President Obama will commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the war fight on the Korean peninsula. But in so doing, he will have no choice to acknowledge that the war has not ended despite dramatic changes in both the international context and local conditions on the Korean peninsula. In my own thinking about the significance of an enduring armistice alongside dramatic changes surrounding the Korean peninsula, I found Sheila Miyoshi Jager’s new book Brothers at War particularly useful.

My own thoughts in reflecting on the armistice and the unfinished Korean War are that there are four major changes in the international context that no one would have anticipated when the treaty was signed:

Read more ....

More News On Recalling The 60th Anniversary of The Korean Armistice

From North Korea to US, differing ceremonies show enduring divide 60 years after Korean war -- FOX News/AP
Korean War Armistice: 60 years on -- Arirang News
S. Korean defense chief urges DPRK to observe Korean War armistice -- Xinhuanet
Obama declares Korean War Veterans Armistice Day -- USA Today
U.S. veterans return to North Korea, attend ‘Victory Day’ commemoration -- New York Daily News/AP
War's US legacies: permanent troops and 7,900 MIAs -- Bloomberg Businessweek/AP
For U.S. veterans of the Korean War, a solemn anniversary -- NBC
Wounded Vet Reflects on Korean War 60 Years After Armistice -- US Department of Defense
Korean War vets share memories on 60th anniversary of armistice -- Stars and Stripes
Medal of Honor recipient honors fallen co-pilot as Korean War foes gather in Pyongyang to remember war -- New York Post/AP
Veteran POWs recall misery of North Korean captivity -- CNN
The 'forgotten war' caused Americans to go temporarily nuts -- Clancy Sigal, The Guardian
No peace for Koreas 60 years after war -- Lucy Williamson, BBC News
Korean peace in limbo, 60 years after armistice -- Dirk Godder, Gulf Times
What It Was Like to Negotiate With North Koreans 60 Years Ago -- Brandon K. Gauthier, The Atlantic
An armistice marked for a war that never ended -- Andrew Atterbury, Go San Angelo
No peace on Korean Peninsula -- Benedict Rogers, The Australian
Photos: North Korea marks 60 years since armistice -- Mercury News

Remembering The Start Of The Korean War 61 Years Ago

After 61 Years, Korean War Offers Modern Lessons -- Pajamas Media

As we remember our military personnel who gave their lives during the conflict, we might also think about the reasons it happened and about how to diminish the likelihood of another, in Korea and elsewhere.

Sixty-one years ago, on June 25, 1950, North Korea “unexpectedly” invaded South Korea. As we remember our many military personnel who gave their lives during the conflict, we might also think about the reasons it happened and perhaps as well about how to diminish the likelihood of another, in Korea and elsewhere.

The events leading up to the invasion are now ancient history and so are little considered in evaluating current events. That is unfortunate. Stalin, Mao, and Kim il-Sung are dead but their spirits survive and continue to haunt us; we also have others with whom to contend, principally in the Arab lands.

Read more ....

My Comment: An interesting analysis on what brought about the Korean War 61 years ago, and what we should be aware of in today's geo-political environment on the Korean peninsula.

Remembering The Start Of The Korean War 60 Years Ago

Korean War veterans attend a ceremony at the Pentagon marking the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, Arlington, Va., June 24, 2010. DoD photo by Elaine Wilson

S Korea Marks 60th Anniversary Of Korean War -- BBC

Commemorations are being held in South Korea to mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.

North Korean tanks and troops swept south on 25 June 1950, starting a three-year conflict that claimed an estimated four million lives.

The US led the United Nations in support of the South while China and Russia backed the North.

The war ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, leading to almost constant political tension ever since.

North Korea still disputes the widely held view that it attacked first.

Read more ....

Remembering the Start Of The Korean War 60 Years Ago

Pentagon Marks 60th Anniversary of the Korean War -- U.S. Department of Defense
Korean War anniversary draws special visitors to DMZ -- Stars And Stripes
Divided Koreas remember start of Korean War -- AP
Divided Koreas Remember Start of Korean War -- New York Times
Tensions high in Korean peninsula on 60th anniversary of war -- CNN
North Korea ratchets up tension as South marks 60th anniversary of war -- The Guardian
Koreas mark 60th anniversary of war -- Sydney Morning Herald
S. Korea marks 60th anniversary of Korean War amid tensions -- Yonhap News Agency
Sixty years on, US veterans recall Korean War service -- AFP
Veterans' memories on anniversary of Korean War -- BBC
US photographer Max Desfor relives Korean War -- BBC
British veterans remember 'forgotten conflict' in Korea -- The Telegraph
Korea, war without end, casts a long shadow -- AP
China rewrites history of Korean War -- The Telegraph

The Real Heroes of the Korean War -- Wall Street Journal opinion
The Forgotten War, Remembered -- New York Times opinion
Korean war 60 years on: Haven in South for young defectors from North -- The Guardian
The 60-year war in Korea -- Bill Latham, Washington Times
Our ongoing war in Korea -- Washington Times editorial

Remembering The Korean War, 60 Years Ago (48 Photos)

(Click Image to Enlarge)
Supply warehouses and dock facilities at this important east coast port feel the destructive weight of bombs dropped from Fifth Air Force's B-26 Invader light bombers, Wonsan, North Korea in 1951. (U.S. Department of Defense/USIA)

From The Big Picture/Boston.com:

This Friday, June 25th, it will have been sixty years since the beginning of the Korean War in 1950. After decades of Japanese occupation, Korea was divided in two by Allied Forces at the end of World War II, with the south administered by the U.S. and the north by Soviet Russia. Deep divisions built over several years, leading to skirmishes and finally an invasion by North Korean troops on June 25th, 1950. The United Nations sent troops and support from 21 countries to support South Korea, primarily from the United States and Britain. The war lasted for three years, with large advances and retreats on both sides, and many casualties. Hundreds of thousands of civilians and soldiers were killed. The two Koreas are technically still at war since hostilities ended in a ceasefire, not a peace treaty in 1953. Though it is often referred to as "The Forgotten War", I hope this collection of photographs helps us to remember the events of 1950-53, those involved, and the legacy that still remains, sixty years later. (48 photos total)

WNU Editor: To see the pictures .... go here. (Warning. Many of them are graphic).

Remembering The Korean War

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Sixty Years After War Broke Out, Korean Peninsula Still In Limbo -- McClatchy News

NEAR THE DEMILITARIZED ZONE, South Korea — The tourists were bunched together on an observation deck, their faces pressed against binoculars to get a glimpse of North Korea.

A few days earlier, the regime of Kim Jong-il had said it would unleash "a merciless strike" that could turn Seoul into a "sea of flames" if South Korea turned on propaganda speakers not far from where the sightseers were pointing and giggling.

Read more ....

My Comment: The McClatchy reporter notices the same thing that I have always noticed when visiting Korea. The young are in denial with the security threat that comes from the North .... preferring to focus instead on their own lives and how they can benefit from the opportunities that they have unlike their cousins in the north.

I can only hope that such a mindset will not be tested in the future, because if it is it will be a huge shock for many of these youngsters.

South Korea Admits Civilian Killings During The Korean War

Aftermath of a Korean War massacre. Photo from Rewind the Fifties

From The New York Times:

SEOUL, South Korea — In the opening months of the Korean War, the South Korean military and the police executed at least 4,900 civilians who had earlier signed up — often under force — for re-education classes meant to turn them against Communism, the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced Thursday.

The government killed the civilians out of fear that they would help the Communists who were invading from the north and forcing South Korean and American forces into retreat during the first desperate weeks of the war, the commission said.

Read more ....

My Comment: My Godfather served in the United Nations during this conflict. His job was to enter people's homes/businesses and search for valuables when UN/South Korean forces were abandoning towns and cities. He was usually a half hour ahead of the approaching North Korean/Chinese military.

From his experience, it was very rare that civilians were killed by retreating UN/South Korean forces. In fact, he knows of no situations in which civilians were executed on the spot .... but 5,000 civilians .... he has doubts on the evidence that the Truth Commissions reports are based on.

As to what is my take .... 2 million people died in this conflict, and as the above picture attests .... massacres and murder probably happened in many instances. So is my Godfather wrong .... probably not because he was simple not exposed to this side of the conflict, and besides .... he only got involved in the latter half of the war. But this is still an area of investigation that the South Korean Government should continue .... and with time .... with a change of Government .... there will be a day when the North Koreans will also have their own "Truth Commission".