On August 15, 1945, Korea was liberated from a 35-year Japanese colonial rule.
But Koreans’ joy didn’t last long. As the Cold War rivalry between the capitalist U.S. and the communist USSR intensified, conflict surrounding the Korean Peninsula also escalated.

The peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel, with the U.S. occupying the southern half and the Soviet Union taking control of the northern half, forcing South and North Korea to walk different paths.
Military clashes between the two sides often erupted, indicating growing signs of war.

The war broke out at the peaceful predawn of Sunday, June 25, 1950. At the time, the military command in South Korea carried out a personnel reshuffle and many soldiers were on leave in the busy farming season. Catching the South Korean troops off guard, North Korean forces stormed across the 38th parallel under a meticulously-planned strategy. In just three days, on June 28, they occupied Seoul and invaded further south to make a brutal attack all across South Korea.

Two months after the war began, the entire Korean Peninsula, except for the region south of Nakdong River in the southeastern area, fell to the hands of North Korean troops.

On June 26, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting and passed a resolution calling for an immediate halt to the hostilities and the withdrawal of North Korean forces to the 38th parallel. As North Korea continued to invade the South, however, the U.N. determined on June 28 that military measures were required to restore peace. On July 7, the U.N. Command was established. One day later, General Douglas MacArthur was appointed as commander in chief of the U.N. forces.

During the war, a total of 21 countries fought for South Korea under the U.N. banner. Among them, 16 countries—the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, Turkey, the Philippines, Thailand, the Netherlands, Colombia, Greece, New Zealand, Ethiopia, Belgium, France, South Africa and Luxemburg—dispatched combat soldiers. Five others such as Sweden, India, Denmark, Norway and Italy sent medical teams. In 2018, South Korea added Germany to the list of providers of medical assistance to South Korea. Numerous countries also provided aid materials and funds to South Korea.

The truce negotiations lasted for two years. From the beginning of the longest such talks in history, the U.N. forces and the communist forces remained at odds on terms for the agreement.

During the 1,129-day Korean War from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, 138,000 South Korean soldiers were killed in action and 450,000 others were injured. Casualties of South Korean troops came to 621,000, including those missing. The war left 520,000 North Korean soldiers killed or wounded, with the casualties amounting to 800,000. The U.N. forces also suffered great damage, as 41,000 died and 104,000 were injured. Their casualties reached 155,000, including the missing and POWs. That’s not the end, however. Far more civilians than soldiers perished during the war. More than one million South Korean civilians were killed, wounded or missing, while the number of civilian victims in North Korea amounted to 1.55 million. It is assumed that one-fifth of the population on the entire Korean Peninsula fell victim to the war.

In addition to the human casualties, the Korean War took a heavy toll on the economy and society. In South Korea, the war devastated 43 percent of industrial facilities and 50 percent of coal mines, with the damage totaling 2,281,050,000 US dollars.

During the war, 10 million people were separated from their families, 300,000 women lost their husbands and 100,000 people lost their parents. Sadly, the Korean Peninsula still remains the only divided country in the world.