Korea: the United Nations at War – a Timeline

Before the War

April 1945

The United Nations (UN) was created by the USA, Britain, China, the Soviet Union, and France at a meeting in San Francisco in April 1945. 

The aim of the UN was to bring countries together to help keep peace and stop future wars, to encourage countries to follow international laws, support human rights, and help people affected by conflict.  It comprised a Security Council (for immediate reactions to urgent events) and a General Assembly (of all member nations).  However, for the Security Council to make any decision, all five permanent members (USA, USSR, Britain, France, and the [pre-revolution] Republic of China) had to agree; each of them had a veto on any decision they did not like.  In the years 1946-49, the USSR used the veto 24 times, to block UN action on Spain, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Berlin, atomic energy & arms limitation, along with membership applications from 8 countries. 

1947

The US, looking for a way to remove its army from Korea, referred the issue to the United Nations, which accepted responsibility, voting Korea a UN ward, and setting up the United Nations Commission on Korea (UNCOK) to seek unity and report threats. 

When UNCOK tried to talk with the Russians, however, it was rejected.  When it arranged a meeting with the North Koreans in June 1950, the meeting took place under fire from South Korea. 

May 1948

UNCOK held an election in South Korea; this brought Syngman Rhee to power.  The UN recognised this half-state as the ‘Republic of Korea’.

The Outbreak of War

25 June 1950

UNCOK reported the invasion to the UN.  Secretary General Trygve Lie declared: “This is war against the United Nations!”

Lie believed that, as Secretary General, he could take issues before the Security Council and the General Assembly.  That same day – liaising closely with President Turman – Lie took Resolution 82 before the Security Council calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and for the NKPA to withdraw. 

The reason the USSR did not cast its veto was because (until August) it was boycotting the UN due to the UN’s refusal to recognise the new, communist [post-revolution] People’s Republic of China. 

27 June 1950

When Resolution 82 was ignored, the Security Council passed Resolution 83, declaring North Korean actions a breach of peace, and recommending UN members provide assistance to South Korea to repel the attack and restore peace on the Korean Peninsula. 

7 July 1950

With NKA forces advancing quickly, Security Council Resolution 84 called on member to provide military forces to assist the Republic of Korea, and it established a unified command led by the United States under the UN. 

Fehrenbach (1963) comments: “At this time, the majority of the United Nations were either Western nations or pro-Western… And, shocked by the overt Communist action, these nations realized that only the United States was capable of effectual opposition to Communist power”. 

NOTE: this was a truly sea-change moment in world history: the UN authorising military force to confront an aggressor. 

24 July 1950

The UN Command was established under US General Douglas MacArthur; 22 nations sent military assistance. 

NOTE: although the US 8th Army did most of the fighting, officially, the entire war was fought by the UN, not the USA. 

However, the USA contributed 90% of all the munitions and 80% of the non-Korean ground troops. 

NOTE: “The success of the United Nations was due largely to the fact that one member – the United States – stood ready to take immediate and decisive action and was willing to assume a very large share of the total load” (Leland Goodrich, 1953). 

NOTE: “Although transnational in design, the UNC was directed towards the protection and supremacy of pro-capitalist (and US) interests” (Tudor, 2020).

31 July 1950

UN Resolution 85 authorised the UN Command also to direct relief aid for the civilians caught up in the war.  UN Civil Assistance Command (UNCACK) distributed $450 million in aid, clothing, feeding, housing, and medically treating millions of people 1950-53.

29 Sept 1950

MacArthur re-installed Syngman Rhee: “In behalf of the United Nations Command I am happy to restore to you, Mr.  President, the seat of your government that from it you may better fulfill your constitutional responsibilities.”

The Invasion of North Korea

7 Oct 1950

In a meeting to discuss Korea, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 376, establishing the UN Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea and recommending “all appropriate steps” to achieve this.  MacArthur, who had reached the 38th Parallel, took this as an ‘ok’ for invasion, and on 9 October UN forces crossed into North Korea.

3 Nov 1950

Realising its error, the USSR had returned to the Security Council in August, and in September had vetoed two Security Council resolutions on Korea.  Therefore, General Assembly’s ‘Uniting for Peace’ Resolution 377 resolved that, where two-thirds of the UN General Assembly agreed, the General Assembly could overrule the Security Council, so as to stop one member state being able to prevent the UN from taking action to restore international peace and security. 

NOTE: this was a truly sea-change moment in world history: the UN changing its rules to allow the General Assembly to overrule the Security Council. 

“Thus, the functions of the General Assembly were expanded from being exclusively a [debating] forum to being an operational forum capable of authorising ‘appropriate measures’ for the resolution of international peace” (Tudor, 2020). 

China Enters the War → Stalemate

14 Dec 1950

The successful invasion of Korea by the PRC threw the General Assembly into “a ferment of agony, doubt, and indecision”.  Going to war with North Korea was one thing, going to war with communist China another. 

Therefore Resolution 384, proposed by 13 Arab-Asian nations, sought “immediate steps to prevent the conflict in Korea spreading to other areas, and set up a 3-man delegation to seek a ceasefire. 

This was a HUGE step-back from “all appropriate steps” by the UN and left the USA (which had recently moved from ‘containment’ to ‘roll-back’) with a huge problem – did it abandon its new policy, or abandon its UN ‘cloak’?

Truman had already decided (30 Nov 1950): “ we have committed ourselves to the cause of a just and peaceful world order through the United Nations.  We stand by that commitment”. 

NOTE: It was essentially these decisions, which tied the US forces to fighting-but-not-winning, which reduced the war to stalemate. 

1 Feb 1951

The UN General Assembly noted that, by invading Korea, the PRC had “engaged in aggression in Korea” and affirmed that the UN would “continue its action to meet the aggression” … but it set up a 2-man delegation to seek “peaceful means” to end the war.

11 Apr 1951

Truman sacked MacArthur who publicly questioned his decision to abide by the UN decision.

Ceasefire

Nov 1952

With the Panmunjom talks deadlocked over exchange of POWs, Indian delegate VKK Menon proposed that India might act as a neutral arbiter of the POWs.  This was eventually accepted as the basis for a ceasefire.

1991

Both the ROK and the DPRK were simultaneously admitted to the UN.

2007

The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 62/5 on "Peace, Security and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula," welcoming and supporting an inter-Korean summit with the goal of permanent peace. 

Present-day

The UN Command still maintains its presence on the Korean Peninsula, enforcing the Armistice Agreement, facilitating diplomacy with North Korea, and serving as the base for multinational forces during crisis or conflict.