Ceasefire and Aftermath

Ceasefire

WHY did the USA seek a Ceasefire?

1. To dislodge the NKPA from the hills and ridges of North Korea would involve loss-of-life on a WWI scale.

2. The political decision to move back from roll-back/conquest to containment and to stop at the Wyoming Line meant that the war could NEVER be won.

3. MacArthur had been sacked.

4. Govt & public opinion meant that the high casualties – both on the ground and in the air – needed to be ended.

5. To get back American POWs and be rid of the 135,000 enemy POWs.

6. The high cost of the war, particularly the very high use of artillery during enemy attacks.

7. The war was using all America’s military capacity – other situations were developing in Europe, Indochina and Persia.

8. The UN (and world opinion) had stopped talking unification and wanted peace/a ceasefire.

9. Eisenhower (elected Nov 1952) had promised to end the war quickly.

Ceasefire talks

Ceasefire talks had actually started in Kaesong in July 1951, but it soon became clear that the Chinese/North Koreans were using them to gain time to reinforce their army, and they quickly broke down.

The DMZ

After the resumption of the UN offensive in autumn 1951, talks began again in October, at Panmunjom, a (destroyed) village in no-man's land. Negotiations moved forward very slowly; the UN negotiators came to the conclusion that the Chinese/North Koreans were simply fighting the war at the negotiating table – every UN suggestion was greeted with a tirade of propaganda and accusation. Eventually, on 27 November 1951, the Chinese/North Koreans accepted a 4-mile wide Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), at the present line of contact, as an agreed ceasefire line.

The POWs

Talks, however, continued, and so did the Communist offensives. The sticking point lay over the POWs. Of the 135,000 enemy POWs held by the UN, fully a third were refusing to go back home; the Communists regarded this as a propaganda defeat. They demanded full repatriation. They accused the US of mistreating the POWs ... so a neutral UN commission had to investigate. They accused the Americans of using germ warfare ... whch had to be disproven. In October 1952, the UN lead negotiator declared: "The UN has no further proposals to make... We are willing to meet with you at any time you are willing to accept one of our proposals ... I have nothing more to say," and the talks recessed.

The breakthrough started with a suggestion (December 1952) from the International Red Cross for an exchange of sick and wounded POWs. At the end of February 1953, General Clark, Head of UN Command, wrote to Kim Il Sung, and to Peng Teh-huai (leader of the PVA) suggesting the idea and – a month later – he got a reply; not only would the PVA/NKPA exchange sick and wounded (which took place in Operation 'Little Switch' in April), they were prepared to restart the talks at Panmunjom. Then on 4 June, they agreed to a 'Big Switch' of all POWs, by which all POWs not wishing to be returned home would be handled by India, but they would get 90 days to try to dissuade them.

Source A

This cartoon shows a North Korean officer forcing a UN general to sign the Ceasefire. I have edited the image to make the text more legible. Click on the image for a larger version.

WHY did the Chinese agree to the Ceasefire?

1. The US had developed short-range nuclear weapons that could be used on the battlefield.

2. General Eisenhower had become US President in March 1953; there were rumours he was prepared to use nuclear weapons if negotiations had not concluded by the end of summer.

3. Stalin died on 1 March 1953; the Soviet politburo dissolved into infighting, the USSR gradually developed a policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’; there were anti-Soviet riots in Poland – Russian support could no longer be relied upon.

4. The war against America had raised China to the rank of a world superpower – but growing anger at its delay in making peace was losing that prestige.

5. Tensions were developing in China between the Army (demanding better support) and the civil administration (which wanted to build China’s economic strength).

6. By 1953, China had suffered >400,000 military deaths and was facing a poor rice harvest, especially in the northeast.

7. The UN promised that it would ensure that South Korea adhered to the ceasefire.

Syngman Rhee

The only sticking point now was Syngman Rhee. Hundreds of thousands of Koreans had died in the war, and he was not prepared to agree simply to return to the status quo. His reply was: never, never, never. On 18 June he removed ROK troops from UN Command (raising fears that he might invade again) and released 27,000 anti-communist POWs from ROK camps (which threatened to wreck the Ceasefire agreement altogether).

In the end, he refused to sign but – after intense US pressure – agreed not to obstruct the armistice, which was signed on 27 July 1953.

It was a ceasefire, not peace. The Korean War, never declared, has still not ended.

WHY did Rhee agree not to prevent the Ceasefire?

1. At the ‘Little Truce Talks’ with Rhee (June 1953), the Americans offered:

• A Mutual Security Treaty to expand the ROK Army, at US expense;

• Long-term economic aid;

• Immediate aid of $200 million and 5,000 tons of food.

2. South Korea was entirely dependent on the US: he knew that without US support, South Korea could not continue the war or survive as an independent country.

Aftermath

Cold War → intensified

1. “The war failed to resolve any of the differences between the USA and the USSR” (Bruce, 2017).

2. It was a ‘proxy war’, where the superpowers fought each other via a local confrontation; this set the pattern of the Cold War from then on (eg Vietnam, Cuba, Afghanistan).

3. It transformed the Cold War from a European confrontation into a global conflict.

4. Fear of communist aggression increased; the US spent $3 billion helping France resist communism in Indochina, and West Germany was allowed to rearm because of fears it would be the USSR’s next target for attack in Europe.

5. The world divided into two hostile blocs: The US added Greece, Turkey and West Germany into NATO (1955) and increased military aid to Western European allies; the USSR formed the Warsaw Pact (1955) in response. In the Pacific, the US formed SEATO (1954, with France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan) as a bukwark against communism.

Arms Race → speeded up

1. NSC-68 dramatically increased US military spending. It developed the hydrogen bomb (1952); tactical nuclear shells for the battlefield, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (1957). By 1955 it had 2,000 nuclear warheads, giving it a huge nuclear superiority. US nuclear-capable bombers were stationed in Europe under NATO coordination, NATO bases were established in Turkey and Greece (both joined in 1952) close to Soviet borders.

2. The USSR responded, successfully testing a hydrogen bomb in 1953 to match the US It also increased the size of the Red Army from 2.8 million (1950) to 5.8 million (1955), giving it a huge superiority in conventional capability.

US-China Hostility → increased

1. The War transformed China into a global power.

2. It took China into the Cold War, increasing hostility between the US and Communist China (the US refused to recognize China at the UN and broke diplomatic and trade links between the two countries until the 1970s).

Sino-Soviet Relations → damaged

The USSR supported China, but tensions grew because China felt the USSR had not provided enough help.

United Nations → enhanced

1. The prestige of the United Nations grew; it had shown that it was prepared ans able to intervene to keep the peace; HOWEVER…

2. The USSR started attending, and used its veto to hamper proceedings.

3. Trygve Lie, the UN Secretary-General, resigned in 1953 because the USSR refused to work with him anymore, accusing him of supporting the USA and acting beyond his office.

North Korea → destroyed

1. EVERYTHING had been bombed to destruction/ MASSIVE loss of population of working age (1 million killed or missing; 1.5 million wounded).

2. Both the USSR and China cancelled North Korea’s debts, and sent economic aid … but far less than the US sent South Korea. Communist countries sent help in kind: “Albania donated asphalt for paving roads, Czechoslovakia gave buses, Hungary built a precision tool factory, East Germany gave telephones and switchboards. Poland built the West Pyongyang Railway Factory, Bulgaria built a factory for wooden tools, Romania built up Pyongyang Central Hospital, and the USSR, Czechoslovakia, China and East Germany each contributed engines and freight and passenger cars to develop the North Korean railroad industry.” (Armstrong, 2009)

3. DPRK remains desperately poor, suffering famine, disease and malnutrition.

4. After the war, Kim Il Sung established a Stalinist hereditary dictatorship based on a cult of personality. It has the worst human right records in the world.

5. Present-day North Korea has the highest number of military personnel in the world (7.7 million/ 30% of its population). Its active-duty army of 1.28 million is the fourth largest in the world.

South Korea → developed

1. MASSIVE loss of population (1.2 million killed or missing; 430,000 wounded)US military bases → an economic boost AND ‘GI babies’.

2. Recovery in the 1950s was slow and hindered by political upheavals and corruption. However, in 1960, the ‘April Revolution’ displaced Rhee.

3. In the 1960s-1990s South Korea experienced an ‘economic miracle’ which made it one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

4. Nevertheless, mandatory military conscription and a growing number of defectors from North Korea remain legacies of the War.

Source B

A photo of Pyongyang after an American bombing raid, probably 1950. This photo was used by the British newspaper The Guardian, in 2017, to illustrate a commemorative article on the War.

Source C

US Sherman tanks in North Korea in 1950. This image was used by the US newscaster CNN, in 2021, to illustrate a commemorative webpage on the War.

Source D

Canadian officers under the United Nations Command reading about the 1953 armistice. Another image used by CNN for their 2021 webpage.

Consider:

1. Was the Korean War a success for containment?

2. ‘During the Korean War, the USA pulled the strings of the UN like a puppet.’ How far do you agree?

3. Make the argument that the Korean War was a war that 'EVERYBODY lost'.

Commemorating the War

4 Study images B-D. Consider their tone, content, context and message. Do you see a difference in the image chosen by the British newspaper, and those chosen by the American website? Suggest reasons why they chose the images they did.

5. Do a google imaage search on the 'Korean War'. Find an image which best illustrates your interpretation of the War.

6. Discuss: how should the War be commemorated today?

AQA-style Questions

Spotted an error on this page? Broken link? Anything missing? Let me know.